Snow White and the Walking Dead (Part V)
by jennifbl
Summary: Terminus was a bust but Gwen doesn't care. She's been reunited with her family and Daryl. All they need now is Beth and one of the new people in the group say there is salvation and a cure in DC. Although, the events leading up to Terminus has shaken her trust and her childhood nickname sends waves of disgust through her. What's next for the group?
1. What Happened With You?

"What happened with you?" I ask my sister and nephew as we create weapons out of belt buckles and wood, anything we can find really, we're resourceful people.

"Andy and I got separated. I saw Maggie run off in search of Beth, I followed her. Then Andy noticed Glenn run off, guy could barely walk so he went after him. I followed Maggie but we couldn't find Beth, we found Sasha and Bob instead. Bob got shot and we had to get out of there so we ran. I couldn't see anyone anymore. I saw you get shot. I thought you were either dead or with Andy. Maggie, Bob, Sasha and I wandered for a while, there was a split, me and Maggie wanted to find Glenn and Andy. In the end we ended up agreeing to it and we headed off. We started writing notes for Glenn to meet us at Terminus. We found each other. Andy and I were both shocked when you weren't with the other. I told Andy what I saw and we assumed you died" Nessa explains making a very nice chiv. She holds it up "Living in Glenrothes is finally paying off"

I shake my head with a smile and look at Andy "What about you?" I ask

"Glenn passed out so I dragged him to the C-Block bridge sat with him until he woke up. That's when we decided to search the cell block for anything we can use. We went to leave and that's when we found Tara. She never wanted to be part of the Governor's sick plan. We, well, I was hesitant at first but she turned out to be A-class. Then we got attacked by walkers. We got them but Glenn was still weak and passed out. That's where Abraham, Eugene and Rosita found us. They ended up coming with us. I thought my best bet was to look for Nessa and Maggie. I thought you were with them if you weren't with me" Andy explains

"Died? Me? From a silly little arm wound like that? Bitch please" I state.

"What did happen to you? Were you with Daryl?" Nessa asks

"No, I got out with Rick and Carl. Rick and I were a bit worse for wear. The Governor beat him to a pulp and tried to choke the life out of me. Would've too if it weren't for Michonne. I don't know how but we ended up losing Michonne. We ended up in a house and that's where Michonne found us. Then we had to get out of there because some perverted, disgusting creeps turned up. We got out, followed the tracks until those sick fucks found us. Daryl was with them. He met them after we had seen them the first time. Had no idea what these people were capable of until the night they found us. Well look at Daryl's face. We got rid of them and here we are. Out of the frying pan and into the fire" I tell them

"What about you Daryl?" Andy asks

"I was with Beth at first" Daryl says

"Beth?" Maggie exclaims

"Yeah, she was with me then she wasn't. I saw a black car with a white cross painted on it pull away. I tried to follow it. I tried." Daryl says

"But she's alive?" Maggie asks

"She's alive." Daryl replies.

"They seemed nice enough, but I was ready to go. We just got here, but, damn, it was time to go. When I told them about DC, a wink and a nod from the head asshole in charge, they pulled their guns and it was right back to our regularly scheduled shitstorm." Abraham says

"Before they put you in here, you didn't see Tyreese?" Sasha asks

"No." Michonne replies

"Good." Sasha says


	2. There's a Cure?

"All right, got four of them pricks coming our way." Daryl says from the door.

I hold up my chiv and smile at it. Aw, being a gangster's daughter finally pays off

"Y'all know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats." Rick says

We all poise near the door, ready to pounce. "Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car now." A voice yells in at us.

We all just look at each other and nod. Yeah right pal. Sunlight stream in from overhead suddenly. I look up confused just to see a canister drop from the ceiling, it's flashing… oh shit.

"Move!" Abraham yells

We all dive in separate directions as the canister explodes and fills the car with smoke. There's a fight. I know I hit someone, can't see who though. Might have been one of our own for all I know. Next thing I know the smokes gone and we're four people short. Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob.

"No, no no! Daryl!" I throw myself against the door "Daryl! Daryl! Daryl!" I scream over and over.

Maggie and Sasha are with me banging hard on the door "No!" I scream once more and kick the door so hard I throw myself back onto my ass.

I'm not even sad. I am pissed! I just got him back and they take him away from me! "Fucking arseholes!" I scream loudly.

Nessa shushes me "Gwen, Snow, Stop it"

"Don't call me that!" I snap at her and stand. I hate that nickname!

She looks at me taken aback. "Gwen…"

Maggie grabs onto me and sobs loudly. I stroke her hair. Then grab her face. "We need to get out of here. Keep making those weapons. They'll not get us next time!"

I don't know how long passed, minutes, hours? Who knows? It was the explosion that got my attention. The whole cart shakes violently "The fuck was that?" I ask and try to peer out.

I see the smoke first then the walkers "Fuck, there are walkers out there." I laugh "Son of a bitches are overrun"

"What the hell is going on?" Abraham growls, banging his fists against the door

"Someone hit them." Michonne says

"Maybe our people got free." Tara suggests

"Excuse me." Eugene says and barges past me

"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita asks

"I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door. From the sound of things, there may not be anybody left to open it." Eugene says

"Eugene, I'm sorry, but shut up. Okay." Tara snaps

"Hey. My dad's gonna be back. They all are." Carl says

"They are. And we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do." Maggie says.

I nod "Exactly, so all of you need to take a breath and get ready."

"What's the cure, Eugene?" Sasha asks.

I look up confused "Cure? What cure?"

"Eugene says he has the cure for this whole thing?" Andy says

"Do tell" I say

"It's classified." Eugene says

"We don't know what's gonna happen." Michonne says

"You leave him be." Abraham says

"We need to keep working." Maggie says

"Yeah, but it's time to hear it. 'Cause we don't know what's coming next." Sasha says

"What's next is we get out of this." Tara says

I look up at her and smile "Oh, I like you" I say with a grin. She smiles back

"Even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a well-composed FAQ and I went red-ring, the cure would still die with me." Eugene states

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Abraham says

"The best-case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm of bullets, fire, and walkers. I'm not fleet of foot. I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence." Eugene says

"Yeah, but we can and we will." Michonne says with a smirk in my direction

"You don't owe us anything. Not yet. But we just want to hear it." Sasha says

"You don't have to." Rosita says

Andy and I exchange a look. "My Nephew here, is a bit of a genius. He read war and peace when he was six years old and hacked into a government computer when he was eleven. I think he can handle anything you throw at him" I tell Eugene

Eugene stands "I was part of a 10-person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganisms. Fire with fire. Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I am keenly aware of all the details behind fail-safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet. I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of them. Fire with fire. All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."

I look at Andy's reaction, he's frowning at Eugene a bit, as if trying to figure something out.

"So let's get back to work." Maggie says


	3. Sliver Lining

The door opens and there stands Rick. I grin and sigh in relief when I see Daryl being badass Daryl. "Come on! Fight to the Fence!" Rick yells.

That's what we do. The moment we jump out of that car we are surrounded. Daryl squeezes my elbow once before pushing me ahead of him. My chiv works very well indeed. I'm rather fucking chuffed with myself. Daddy would be proud. We get to the fence and jump over one by one. I make sure Nessa, Andy and Carl get over before I do. Daryl all but throws me over to get me to go before him. I land on the ground with an 'ooft' as all the air is knocked out of me.

Nessa snorts with laughter and pulls me up "You okay?" She asks

I punch Daryl's arm as he lands beside me "What have I told you about throwing me over things?"

He rubs his arm "You said you had problem with fences"

I sigh and follow the group as we run into the woods "Daryl, where's the bag?" I ask.

"This way" He says and points in a direction

We follow him into the woods until he stops "Right here"

He pulls out the trowel and throws it to Rick, Rick digs up the bag and opens it. He hands me a hand gun and a sigh with happiness. I have felt so naked without one.

"The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham asks impatiently

"Guns, some supplies. Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em." Rick says and I frown

"What?"

"They don't get to live." Rick snaps

"Rick, we got out. It's over." Glenn says

"It's not over till they're all dead." Rick states

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers." Rosita says

"I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out. The fences are down. They'll run or die." Abraham says.

My attention is drawn to something behind me. I look around and gasp "Carol!" I exclaim happily.

Daryl turns then runs for her. He hugs her tightly. I'm right behind him and throw myself on her with a laugh and tears of happiness. Daryl pulls away and hugs me solely. He's crying.

"Did you do that?" Rick asks her

She nods with a sob and Rick hugs her tightly "You have to come with me"

She leads us out of the woods and up a road to an old house. I see Tyreese exit and he has a baby in his arms… a baby! I cry in shock and grip Rick's jacket. I sprint forward faster than anyone has ever sprinted before. Rick beats me by a millisecond and grabs Judith from Ty.

Rick holds her to him tightly. I hug her top half gently and kiss her head. "Oh thank, God"

"Silver lining" Rick says

I nod "Biggest silver lining ever!" I cry happily. And kiss Judith's head a few more times. My tears soaking her hair.

After a few moments Rick hands her to me and Daryl comes over quickly. Rick thanks Tyreese and Carol as Daryl greets Judith.

"Hey, lil' ass kicker. Really living up to your name kid" Daryl says sweetly.

I kiss his cheeks and stroke Carl's scar free cheek with my free hand "Doesn't she just" I sob and bounce Judith gently.

"Sweet, baby Judith" I sigh and rock her.

I hand Judith to Carl. He takes her and I turn Daryl and throw my arms around his neck "Sliver lining, I'm alive, you're alive, Judith's alive, Nessa, Andy, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Tyreese, Michonne, Rick and Carl are all alive and although she's not here, Beth is alive and we'll find her" I say quietly in his ears.

His arms wrap around my waist and holds me tightly "Yeah. Silver lining."

"Cannibals, I was right? Wasn't I?" I ask

"Yeah, you were" Daryl says with a smirk.

"I don't know if the fire is still burning." Rick says looking at the billowing smoke behind the trees

"It is." Carol says

"Yeah. We need to go." Rick says

"Yeah, but where?" Daryl says

"Anywhere, as long as it is as far away from there as we can get" I tell him

"Alright, let's move out" Rick says

Daryl pats Rick's arm in passing and I look at Judith once more with a grin before heading off. I chase after Maggie and throw my arms around her waist from behind "I missed you!"

She laughs and wraps her arm around my shoulder "I missed you too. Nessa was so sure you were alive"

"You doubted it?" I ask with a raised eyebrow

"I've got a feeling that nothing can kill you" She says with a grin

I cover my ears "La, la, la, la. No! You'll jinx me. Now I'll trip over rock and split my head open"

Nessa hisses from behind us "That would be the worst obituary ever. Here lies Guinevere, survived the walking dead and a number of crazy psychopaths and sociopaths, killed by tripping over her own feet"

I punch her arm "Don't kill me off yet, bitch!"

She rubs her arm "Ow, jerk!"

"Slut" I laugh "Besides you are the one most likely to trip and kill yourself"

She nods "That's true. I haven't yet though." She smacks me over the head "Touch wood!"

I aim for her arm again but she dives out the way. I glare at her playfully and fall back beside Carol and Daryl as we enter the woods. "You alright, Carol?" I ask

She looks at me and nods "Yeah, better now."

"Good, cause you're stuck with us again. Ready for it?" I ask with a wink.

Carol giggles "It might take a while to try and understand you again but I'll try"

I pout "What? Have I not gone all American yet?"

Carol laughs and shakes her head "Gwen, honey, that accent of yours isn't going anywhere anytime soon"

I grin "Oh, good! That's a relief. My accent is 60% of my charm, my boobs are the other 40%"

Carol holds my arm as she laughs harder. "I think your qualities extent further than your accent and boobs"

I grin "Oh, cheers"

Daryl hits my ass firmly "Yeah, your ass ain't bad either"

I push him playfully "Shut up"

"Ya'll have a strange relationship" Eugene says from behind me

"What you saying, Gene boy?" I ask, I find that funny he works with human genes and his name is Eugene.

"Well, I noticed you are close to the baby, the child and their father but you are also intimate with the archer. So my question is, are you with both men?" Eugene asks

The whole group heard and the whole group stops and turns to look at Eugene. The laughter starts with Nessa, followed by Maggie, then Michonne. Within seconds everyone was holding their sides, laughing. Apart from Daryl who doesn't look too impressed and Rick who also doesn't look impressed.

I stop laughing first "Well you see, Gene, Daryl, the archer here, is my husband. Rick is our friend and I just happen to love his kids as much as I love my own nephew, the blonde teen over there. We're just a close knit group. Ain't that right?"

"Hell yeah" Glenn replies with a grin.

Eugene looks a little startled but I notice a smirk on Abraham's face. I nod at him and turn back around. I take Daryl's hand and keep moving. The rest of the group continue too


	4. Welcome to the Group

I look up into Daryl's face and it's still like fizz. As in, he looks pissed.

I nudge him gently "What's wrong?" I ask quietly

Daryl looks at me and bites his lip and shrugs "Nothin'"

"Daryl, don't lie to me" I tell him

He shakes his head and smiles "I'm not, Angel. Trust me"

I frown at him but nod. No point prodding at him. He'll just close up. Rick slows to walk in step with me and Daryl "Stop here tonight?" he asks

I nod "Aye, good as anywhere I suppose"

Rick nods and looks at my face "You look paler than usual, you okay?" He asks

I look up at him and smile "I'm good"

"You sure?" He asks

I laugh "Yes! Man, jeez" I raise my voice slightly "Alright guys, we're gonna rest here a bit. Glenn, Maggie, Sasha could you set up a perimeter."

"No problem, Gwen" Sasha replies

"I'll go huntin'" Daryl says.

I grab his wrist in a panic as he moves to walk away. He looks back at me surprised. I let go slowly "Sorry, um, don't go too far… please"

Daryl smiles and strokes my hair out of my face "Don' worry darlin'. I'll be within shoutin' distance"

I nod "Thank you"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rick asks

I nod "I told you, I'm good"

Tara stands next to me at that moment. I turn to look at her with a smile "You alright?" I ask her

"Yeah, but…" She looks between Rick and I.

"You didn't want to be there. That's why I tried to talk to you. Glenn told me you saved his life." Rick says

"He and Andy saved mine." Tara replies

"That's how it works with us, right?" Rick says

"Right." Tara replies and I grin

"Welcome to the group, you know, the whole group." I say and spread my arms

Rick ruffles my hair and laughs before turning away "Hey." Tara says

She has her fist out. Rick chuckles and bumps fist. Tara turns to me and I bump her fist a little more enthusiastically.

"You'll fit in well with us Miss Tara" I tell her with a grin

"You and Andy are so alike" Tara says

How'd you mean?" I ask

"He wanted to save me first" Tara replies

I nod "Yeah, he's good like that"

Tara nods enthusiastically "Yeah, he's a great kid"

"Like Rick said, you didn't want to be there anymore than we did. I was kind of hoping you'd survive and you did" I say and put my hand on Tara's shoulder

She looks surprised "Why?"

"I'm tired of death." I tell her and take my hand away. "Plus us big boobed people need to stick together" I tell her with wink

She laughs "Get something to eat. We'll start back at sun-up." I say and head over to Daryl who's returning with a few rabbits

"Not much" He says

I kiss his cheek "it'll do"

After a little bit of food and a nice, peaceful chat, we settle for the night. Daryl and Carol say they'll take watch. I fall asleep between Nessa and Andy. I wake up to my body being lifted off the ground. I panic until I see Daryl's face and my tiredness takes over and I slump against him again. He sits and he settles me between his legs. My head against his leg, my body curling up instinctively. I don't fall back asleep immediately. I listen to Carol and Daryl talk.

"Daryl, you should have left her be" Carol scolds.

"I can't. Losing her was the hardest thing I've ever gone through. Not risking tha' again" Daryl replies, stroking my hair.

"Nessa and Andy lost her too" Carol says.

"She's my wife" Daryl replies. "She's all I got"

"Daryl, you have all of us" Carol replies gently

"It's different." Daryl replies

There is a silence and I feel myself dozing off again until Carol says "I don't want to talk about it. I can't. I just need to forget it."

"All right." Daryl replies

I hear the breaking of branches and I sit up straight and stumble to my feet. Daryl is already walking towards the trees slowly, crossbow up. My gun is out, my rifle is over by Nessa.

"It's nothing" Daryl says

I stare through the trees "Are you sure?" I ask

"No" Daryl replies

I smile and shake my head "Fair enough"

The next morning we head out again. Daryl and I go out hunting. I can't hunt or track for shit but Daryl insisted. Nessa and I exchange looks of confusion before I head off. I remain silent and watch Daryl's back as he hunts. I know he's worried that we'll lose each other again but he's being a little too protective for my liking. He manages to get a good few squirrels.

"Alright" Daryl says as he attaches them to string.

"You see any tracks from last night?" I ask

He shakes his head "Nothing, not a thing"

"If it was an animal there would be plenty of tracks right?" I ask

He nods "Yeah, but I didn' think it was an animal"

I nod "I heard something last night. I know I did"

Daryl nods "Yeah, we should head back"

We walk in silence and I can see the group. We walk out from behind a tree to guns in our faces. Daryl raises his arms "We surrender"

The group lower their guns with smiles. I grin "Well, ya'll are jumpy"

"No tracks. No nothing." Daryl says to Rick as we fall into step with him

"So whatever you heard last night..." Rick says

"It's more what I felt. If someone was watching us, there would have been something." Daryl replies

Rick nods and turns. He whistles. I look up at Daryl with a frown "I heard something."

"It could've been anything, Angel" Daryl replies

I shake my head "Something's not right. I can feel it. It's an intuition"

Daryl nods "We'll keep an eye out"

That's another thing I love about Daryl. When I tell him something I'm concerned about he doesn't patronize me. Even if he doesn't feel the same he'll humour me. I'm very rarely wrong but when I am he doesn't rub it in my face unless it's a childish bet.

I nudge his arm with my shoulder "Thanks"

He nudges me back "No problem"

Nessa let's out a noise of surprise which is followed by a thump. I turn in shock then start laughing. She's lying face down on the ground, groaning. Tara helps her up. She brushes down her shirt while letting out a puff of breath.

"I'm good" She says then leans down to grab her rifle.

I shake my head "At least some things never change"

"Help!" Someone screams and we all freeze.

"Dad come on!" Carl says. We're all a bit hesitant.

"Come on!" Carl says desperately.

Rick nods and we run off towards the cries for help. We come across a priest on a rock surrounded by a handful of walkers. Taking them down was quick and easy.

"We're clear. Keep watch." Rick calls

"Come on down." Rick calls up to the priest.

The priest slides off the rock shakily and looks around at us in fear and he looks like he's about to puke "You okay, mate? You look like you're about to throw up?" I ask him

He looks at me and nods before turning and throwing us "Called it" I say with disgust

The priest stands straight "Sorry. Yes. Thank you. I'm Gabriel."

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asks him

The priest chuckles "Do I look like I would have any weapons?"

I frown, who doesn't have weapons these days, he trying to die?

"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." Abraham says

"I have no weapons of any kind. The word of God is the only protection I need." The priest says and I can't contain my scoff.

He looks at me surprised "Sure didn't look like it." Daryl says to him

"I called for help. Help came." Gabriel says looking around us with a smile "Do you have, have any food? Whatever I had left, it just hit the ground."

"We've got some pecans." Carl says, digging into his pocket and holding out his hand

Gabriel holds his hands out and Carl empties the pecans into Gabriel's open hands "Thank you."

Judith, held by Tyreese, starts to make noises "That's a beautiful child." Gabriel says

I continue to stare at the priest suspiciously. He senses the tension and asks "Do you have a camp?"

"No." Rick says instantly "Do you?"

"I have a church." Gabriel says.

Rick looks at me and I nod, shelter is shelter, if he's telling the truth "Hold your hands above your head." Rick snaps at Gabriel

Gabriel raises his arms and Rick starts to search him "How many walkers have you killed?"

"Not any, actually." Gabriel says. How?

"Turn around." Rick snaps, turning the priest around and searches him again "How many people have you killed?"

"None." Gabriel replies

"Why?" Rick asks, turning the priest back

"Because the Lord abhors violence." Gabriel says and I smile in disbelief and shake my head.

"This guy lives in la la land" I mutter to Nessa who nods

"What have you done?" Rick asks harshly "We've all done something."

"I'm a sinner. I sin almost every day. But those sins, I confess them to God, not strangers." Gabriel replies

"You said you had a church?" Rick asks

"Um yes" Gabriel replies nervously

"Will you take us there?" I ask

He looks at me and nods "Yes, of course"

I gesture in a direction with my hand "Lead the way"

Gabriel nods and walks off. We follow him.


	5. Take A Breath

He leads us out of the woods and onto a dirt road that at one time appeared to have been used regularly, not anymore.

"Hey" Rick says to Gabriel "earlier, were you watching us?"

The priest looks back and says "I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?" I nod, maybe he's not completely senile after all.

"No, people are worse." Daryl replies

"Well, I wasn't watching you. I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." Gabriel says. After a moment silence he speaks again "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels."

We slow almost to a stop as we stare at the guy unimpressed and a little annoyed, on my part anyway. Gabriel turns and on spotting the looks on our faces smile nervously "Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humour leaves much to be desired."

"Yeah, it does." Daryl tells him

The church comes into view and it's all very picturesque, white, oak doors, single steeple. Clearly a church for a small community, definitely not Catholic. I see the sign, ah, Episcopal, protestant then basically. Gabriel walks up the steps to the doors.

"Hold up. Can we take a look around first? We just want to hold on to our squirrels." Rick says, holding his hand out for the key.

Rick opens the door and Glenn, Daryl, Michonne, Rick, Carol and I check the place out. The inside is pretty small and simple two. The main church and two rooms. Daryl and Carol take one room, Glenn and Michonne the other. Rick and I stay here and look around. The back of the church, behind the alter, is lined with dozens on empty cans.

"He must have lived off all that for months being on his own. He never even had to leave" I say quietly "Must have been lonely makes wonder what the lesser evil is though"

"I would much rather have what we have than what he has" Rick says gently.

I nod slowly, not sure if I really am convinced. I wonder why? It would be easier to be alone but after what we've just been through, alone sounds scary. Rick whistles and the rest regroup with us and we head back outside to join the others.

"I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well, it would have been surprising." Gabriel says

"Thanks for this." Carl says to him

"We found a short bus out back. It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves some transport." Abraham tells us "You understand what's at stake here, right?"

"Yes, I do." Rick replies

"Now that we can take a breath…" Michonne starts

"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." Abraham says

"We need supplies no matter what we do next." Michonne argues

"Yeah, water, food, ammunition, the whole shebang, we won't get far without it" I say and turn to head into the church, taking Daryl's free hand as I go

"Short bus ain't going nowhere. Bring you back some baked beans" Daryl says before letting me guide him into the church.

Tyreese hands me Judith on his way past so he can settle himself. I hold the baby on my hip and smile down at her happily. She's the cutest baby I've ever seen.

"How'd you survive here for so long? Where did your supplies come from?" Rick asks Gabriel

"Luck. Our annual canned food drive. Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me." Gabriel replies. "The food lasted a long time. And then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."

"What kept you from it?" I ask

Gabriel looks at me "It's overrun."

"How many?" Rick asks, Gabriel's eyes linger on me and Judith a second longer before flicking back to Rick

"A dozen or so. Maybe more."

Rick nods "We can handle a dozen."

"Bob and I will go with you. Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe." Sasha says with a smile in her brother's direction

"That'll be okay?" Rick asks Tyreese

"Sure. You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here." Tyreese replies

"I'm grateful for it. And everything else." Rick says

"Hear that Judy? You're very loved" I say to the baby

"I'll draw you a map." Gabriel says

"You don't need to. You're coming with us." Rick says

"I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things." Gabriel replies looking scared

"You're coming with us." Rick repeats firmly. He turns to me and says "Gwen, you hold down the fort"

I nod "It's what I do" I tell him with a grin

Carl comes over "I found a basket we can put Judith in"

I raise an eyebrow and smirk "Like a picnic basket?"

He laughs "No like a Moses basket"

I laugh and push his hat forward, over his eyes "I know what you meant"

I follow him to a pew where he put down the basket and lay Judith in it "Nap time, little bug"

"Why do you call her little bug?" Carl asks

I shrug "I don't know, I called her it once and she laughed so I just kept going"

Carl smiles "I kind of like it"

"You prefer little ass kicker" I tell him with a wink

He laughs "Yeah"

I get up once Judy has fallen asleep and let Rick talk to Carl. Afterwards he comes over to me "Take Michonne with you" I tell him

He nods "I'm gonna. Keep an eye on things here, okay?"

"Yeah, be careful. I'd rather he went with you than staying here with Judy but there's something off about him. Frankly, I think he's just a coward" I say quietly.

"Well, I'll soon find out" Rick replies before hugging me and heading to the door.

Michonne hugs me too before the little group head out. "Glenn, Maggie, Tara, Ness. Why don't you three head to town too and search for some ammunition. It's a long shot but what's the harm in looking?" I say looking at the three.

"No problem" Maggie says giving me a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. Glenn hugs me too. Everyone is very huggy today! Nessa and Tara fist bump me instead. Alrighty then…

"Carol and Daryl, Could you head out to that stream and collect some water?" I ask

"You're comin' too then" Daryl says.

"Daryl, come on, seriously?" I say with a raised

"Yeah, seriously" Daryl replies firmly.

"No, Daryl, I'll stay here" I say

"Then I will too" He says defiantly

I look at Carol for help but she just shakes her head sympathetically.

I growl "Fine, let's go. Andy, look after things here"

"Sure thing Aunt Gwen" Andy replies


	6. Should We Go To DC?

On the way back with two milk bottle full of water each Daryl says "Hey, I get it. You don't want to talk about it. You okay?"

I look at Carol as she replies "Gotta be." I smirk at that, very Daryl

"We get to start over. All of us with each other. You saved us all by yourself." Daryl says

"We got lucky. We all should be dead." Carol replies

"Morbid" I say

I see a car not too far from us. Carol picks up her pace "I'll check it."

"All right." Daryl replies

Carol climbs into the car and I look up at Daryl who is watching after her and chewing on his lip. "Something on your mind, love?" I ask

Daryl nods then calls out to Carol as she opens the boot of the car "Hey. We ain't dead. And whatever happened, happened. Let's start over."

"I want to." Carol replies

"Well, you can." Daryl says

Carol closes the boot of the car saying "We should leave this here for backup in case things go south at the church."

"Yeah, okay" I reply

"Want me to carry one of those?" Daryl says indicating to one of Carol's milk bottles.

One of his goes flying out of his hand and bursts open on the ground. I snort with laughter as Carol fights her hardest not too. "No" She replies.

That sets me off and I laugh uncontrollably half way back to the church. Daryl hits me over the head gently with the empty bottle "Stop laughing"

I fight for breath "I can't that was too funny"

Back at the church I'm calm but still grinning "We got water! We had six but Mr suave over here dropped one" I say handing the water to Andy.

Andy looks at Daryl and says with a smirk "Smooth"

"Shut up" Daryl mutters.

That night we're sitting by candle light enjoying food and wine and having a laugh. Daryl is leaning against a pew and I'm sitting cross legged, sideways in the middle on the aisle looking towards Daryl.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham says, standing and we all hush up "I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors."

I lift my class as we cheer "Survivors! Cheers!"

Abraham continues "Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip. Eugene, what's in DC?"

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude." Eugene says "That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there." Abraham states "Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

I look at Daryl and smile. That sounds pretty damn good to me. That family we want… we can have it.

I look at Rick as he chuckles. Judith makes a noise and Rick says "What was that? I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

I cheer with the rest of them. Once things settle people go about conversations of their own. That's when I spot Carol getting up and leaving. I stand slowly and nudge Daryl's foot with mine and gesture for him to follow me. He does with a smirk.

Once we're outside I say "Carol's gone"

Daryl looks around carefully then grabs my hand "I know where she's goin'" He says

He leads me through the woods and back towards that car we found earlier and true enough there is Carol. "What are you doing?" Daryl asks her

"I don't know." She replies

"You shouldn't be out here alone" I say quietly

"Come on." Daryl says and starts back towards the woods.

I hear a car approach and dive behind the car. It flies by and Daryl runs after it. He comes back and starts to tan in the backlights.

"Whoa, whoa! What are you doing? What are you doing?" Carol shouts

"They got Beth!" He replies

I look off in the direction the car went in "Oh God!"

"Come on. Come on, get in." Daryl yells


	7. Tension

"Gwen, get in the car!" Daryl shouts and shoves me in the backseat.

I scramble back as he slams the door shut. Carol jumps into the passenger seat, Daryl into the driver's seat. Daryl pulls away quickly and follows the car with the white cross on the back but keeps a decent distance from the car.

"Daryl! Someone needs to tell the others where we're going!" I say and sit up

"No!" Daryl snaps "You don' leave my sight. I'm not goin' to tell you again!"

Carol and I look at each other. "Daryl, I'm not going anywhere" I tell him gently and place my hand on his shoulder.

"You've said that before!" He snaps.

I punch his shoulder causing him to swerve dangerously. Carol gasps and grabs my wrist. Daryl swears loudly "What the fuck, Gwen!"

"Don't you dare _blame_ me for what happened back at that prison! We lost each other you asshole!" I yell at him angrily

"That is not what I meant!" Daryl yells back

"Well that's what it fucking sounded like!" I snap

"Gwen, that's not what I meant and you know it! Just sit back and shut up" Daryl shouts

My anger flares "Make me!" I growl

Suddenly Carol's hand grabs Daryl's arm and looks at him with anger in her eyes. Both Daryl and I look at her shocked. She never glares at Daryl.

Daryl pulls his arm away gently "Carol, you know I would never hurt Gwen" He says surprisingly calmly. That's only because it's Carol.

Carol lifts her hand quickly with wide, surprised eyes "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me"

I put my hand on her shoulder "I'm sorry Carol, it seems me and Daryl need to have a chat at some point" My eyes flick to Daryl and glare before sitting back in my seat.

As bad as it sound, whenever Daryl and I argued in the past we'd end up having really rough sex against any surface available. Probably not healthy but it got it out of our systems and then we would have our heart to heart. Now is not the time or the place.

"Gwen…" Daryl starts.

I cut him off "Not right now, Daryl"

Carol fills the sudden, uncomfortable silence "So it was just you and Beth after?"

"Yeah." Daryl replies

"You save her?" Carol asks

"She's tough. She saved herself." Daryl replies "We were out there for a while. We got cornered, she got out in front of me and... I don't know, she was gone. I came out and a car's pulling out with a white cross on the window."

"Just like that one?" Carol asks

"Yep" Daryl replies as we run over something. I'm assuming it's a walker, who cares.

"Rick's gonna wonder where we went." I say but keep my eyes trained on the window beside me

"Tank's runnin' low." Daryl says

"We can end this quick. Just run him off the road." Carol says

"Nah, we're good for a bit." Daryl replies

"If they're holding her somewhere, we can get it out of the driver." Carol says

"Yeah, but if he don't talk, we're back to square one." Daryl replies "Right now we got the advantage. We'll see who they are. If they're a group, see what they can do. And then we'll do what we gotta do to get her back."

"They're heading north, I-85." Carol says

I lean forward for the first time in ages and look out the front window "The city? Oh fucking fantastic" I groan then throw myself back into my seat.

The car starts to slow when we enter the industrial area of Atlanta. The car suddenly stops at some old traffic lights. Daryl stops a good distance away. I lean forward again and look out the front window. I can see the car's break lights.

"What the hell's he waiting for?" Daryl asks

"For the traffic lights to go green" I say with a little grin.

Carol smiles, Daryl just continues to stare forward.

"There's two of 'em. Is that a cop?" Daryl asks as a man in a uniform steps out of the car.

I see Carol shift and look around to see her pull her gun out of her belt. Daryl looks at her "They might've seen us." Carol says defensively.

The silence is thick as we all stare at the car, waiting for its owner to return. A bang on the glass causes all three of us to jump. Daryl's hand grips my sleeve. I sigh when I see the walker and relax.

"Holy fuck" I mutter and tug my sleeve out of Daryl's hand.

The cop comes back. He moves stuff around on the ground then looks up towards our car as the walker continues to pound against the glass. Fucking go away, you dead bastard! The cop continues to stare and I hold my breath instinctively. The cop gets into his car and I let out my breath, blowing some of Daryl's hair away from his ear. His fingers flex on the steering wheel. The car in front of us pulls away.

Daryl tries the engine but it sputters back. "Oh shit! Tanks tapped" Daryl sighs. I drop my head forward "They'd have taken the bypass and they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere." Daryl says

"We gotta move, find someplace to hole up till sunlight." Daryl says

I sigh "Its times like these I wish I was in Scotland. Castles everywhere!" I mutter

"I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it." Carol says and she rolls down her window and kills the walker.

I lean back and try the door. Fuck, child locks. Daryl opens his door and climbs out. I follow him "What are you doin'?" He asks

"Child locks" I reply.

My foot catches in the seatbelt and I fall forward with a gasp. Daryl catches me. I pull away a little more harshly than I meant to.

"Lead the way Carol" I say, ignoring the look Daryl is giving me.


	8. A Past In Common

Carol leads us through the streets and alleyways until she stops at a door and tries it "It's locked"

"I got it" Daryl steps forward and starts working on the door as Carol and I keep watch.

Two walkers come towards us "Two more." Carol says

"I almost got it." Daryl replies then the door pops open. Not going to lie, it turns me on when he's so manly like that. Makes it hard to hate on him.

I look over my shoulder to see Carol has moved from my side to the edge of the stairwell. The shadows of a few dozen walkers appear in the close distance and Daryl grips my arm and shoves me through the door. Carol is close behind me and Daryl closes the door behind him on the way in.

We have ended up in some office building. I can't see a sign anywhere that identifies any companies. We proceed with caution, not knowing what might jump us. We come across a singular, non-moving corpse. Carol and I move forward but Daryl leans down to grab something. Keys by the sounds of it.

Carol opens a door that has 'Service Centre' written on it in gold letters.

"You used to work here or something?" Daryl asks as we inspect the small reception

"Something." Carol replies

Daryl and Carol move a desk in front of a door and Carol moves to open the one furthest away from me. It's locked.

"Oh, here" Daryl says handing her the keys.

She unlocks the door and leads us in. I flash my flashlight over the room once more before following them in. I follow Carol. The room reminds me of a hostel. Shared bathroom, small kitchenette, no stove, just a microwave, sink, fridge, coffee maker and a hot plate. I follow Carol into a small bedroom with bunkbeds and a desk.

"What is this place?" Daryl asks

"It's temporary housing" Carol replies.

The light from Daryl's torch flashes over a book titled 'Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse' My heart skips a beat, it hurts. It hasn't felt like that in a while.

"You came here?" Daryl asks still staring at the book. He hasn't spotted me watching him yet.

"We didn't stay." Carol replies.

I stand there awkwardly. This place represents a past these two have in common. Sure, my ex-boyfriend cut me up but I never considered myself a victim of abuse or anything else. I just see it as bad judgement of a personality. I smile at Daryl a little, I never made that mistake again though.

I drop the smile as I see Carol turning to look at me "I'll take the top bunk. I think that one's more your style." She says with a grin.

"You two should sleep. I'll take first watch." Carol says and walks over to the window

"This is locked up pretty tight and Gwen and I share a bed" Daryl says as he pulls off his leather jacket

"I know." Carol replies

"Then we're good, then." Daryl says

"I'll keep first watch. I don't mind." Carol says

"Suit yourself." Daryl says then sits on the bed. He opens his arms to me but I simply drop my bag and lean against the wall.

"You said we get to start over." Carol says to Daryl but is looking at me

"Yeah." Daryl says dropping his arms to his knee

"Did you?" She asks looking at him

"I'm tryin'." Daryl says looking at me.

I chew my lips and avoid the question. I don't think my heart can deal with starting over.

"Why don't you say what's really on your mind?" Daryl says

"I don't think we get to save people anymore." Carol replies and my heart hurts again.

"Then why are you here?" Daryl asks

"I'm tryin'." Carol replies. I find a slither of light on the wall next to me very interesting.

A hand grips mine gently. I look at Carol surprised as she pulls me over to the bunk and pulls me down to sit between her and Daryl. She lies back, pulling me with her. I turn my head to look at her confused. She smiles at me and uses her index finger to move a strand of hair out of my face.

"When we were out by the car... what if we didn't show up?" Daryl asks. I stare at Carol.

"I still don't know." She replies tucking her arm under her head.

Daryl lies back. His bicep touching mine. His face so close that if I did turn my head our lips would touch. The thought was tempting but I hold my ground. Kisses and whispered sweet nothings will not cut it this time. We have to talk first. We have to talk first. A distant banging catches my attention and I'm on my feet in seconds. Daryl pushes me behind him as we walk up a corridor lined with bedrooms, searching for the source of the noise. We turn a corner and there is a walker pressed against a, kind of see-through, presumably locked door. A second, much smaller body presses against the window next to the bigger walker. I can't contain the noise that escapes my mouth. I internally scold myself for being so weak. Carol moves for the door.

Daryl stops her "You don't have too"

She grips the handle and Daryl pushes it away "You don'" With that she turns and walks back the way we came.

I stare at the door. Daryl stops next to me "Gwen"

I ignore him. He sighs and grips my bicep. I shake him off "Stop it!" I snap at him and turn to walk away. Carol is waiting at the end of the corridor but Daryl tackles me into an empty room.

"Daryl!" Carol hisses.

"Just go back" Daryl tells her then closes the door behind us.


	9. The Argument

I stand there, in the dark, and stare at my husband. He sits on the bottom bunk "You wanna talk, let's talk" Daryl says.

"Daryl…" I start.

Daryl cuts me off "Now's a good a time as any, right?"

I sit on the window sill, as far away from his reach as possible. I know if I sit next to him, the moment this talk flares I'm going to be half naked with my legs in the air.

"What is it Daryl? Ever since we found each other you've been acting strange" I say quietly.

Daryl looks at me "Didn' realise I was"

I glare at him "Don't act dumb Daryl 'cause you're not" I snap

Even in the dark I can see the cogs working in Daryl's brain. There is something he wants, no, needs to know but he won't ask. Why? What can be so bad he's afraid to ask? Open and honest is what I would have described Mine and Daryl's relationship but since the New Years Eve thing...

"Is this about what almost happened when you found us?" I ask

His eyes widen but he shakes his head "Yes and no."

I glare at him "Which is it?"

Daryl stands "I watched you get attacked and I couldn' do anything. You were almost raped right in front of me!" He snaps angrily

I nod "Yes, I know, I was there." I watch his face closely "This isn't what is making you act weird."

Daryl freezes then moves towards me quickly. I dive out of the way and move over to the opposite wall "No Daryl! We talk!"

"What do you want me to say?" He asks loudly

"The truth!" I yell

He rubs his hands over his face "You were with Rick after the prison"

I nod "Yeah you already know…" It hits me across the face like a tonne of bricks. I scoff and look down "Wow, just, wow" I look up at him angrily "You think I would do that to you? Do you really think that just because for all I knew you were dead that I would sleep with Rick?"

Daryl looks at the window. His silence pisses me off. "Why would that thought even cross your mind?"

Daryl looks back at me "That day, I showed Rick your bruises. The look on his face…"

I rub my face angrily "I couldn't give a flying fuck if Rick has feelings for me! I love my husband! Who clearly still has major trust issues even after all this damn time!" I can't deal with this.

I storm for the door but Daryl grabs my wrist and pulls me back. I fight against him "Daryl, get your hands off of me!" I snap.

He shakes his head and I fight harder "Get off of me now! Honest to God Daryl!"

The world spins and I'm pinned to the bottom bunk "I do trust you!" He snarls in my face.

"Do you fuck" I throw back.

"Gwen! You want me to talk? Then let me fucking talk!" Daryl says impatiently.

I stop moving. He sighs and lets go of my wrists and sits up with his back to me "I have always trusted you Gwen, but if you thought I was dead and needed comfort…"

I frown "You thought I was dead. Did you seek 'comfort'" I ask dangerously

Daryl shakes his head "'Course not" He looks back at me "Rick has been in love with you for a long time now. The guilt destroyed what was left of his and Lori's relationship in the end. I don't believe you would betray me but Rick in a moment of weakness or whatever he might have, he could've… You haven't been the same either"

I sit up slowly and wide-eyed "Do you think Rick hurt me?"

Daryl shrugs "Would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind"

Oh, that's what it was. Not good that he would think so lowly of his best friend but I suppose after the things he saw Rick was willing to do to protect his family. Imagine what he could in a moment of sexual passion. He didn't though. He would never touch me in a way I didn't want.

I rise to my knees and wrap my arms around Daryl's neck from behind "Rick is not Shane, Daryl"

Daryl looks back at me in surprised. I smile gently and kiss his cheek "You and I both know what Rick would do to protect every single one of us. He would never lay an unwanted hand on me. Rick has honour, remember? I think we have all changed but none of us have lost our humanity, not completely anyway. We're smart and do what needs to be done to survive but we would never attack one of our own"

I take Daryl's hand and lift it to my mouth "You are the only man I have given myself too in the last five years. The second man ever. Though I wouldn't call the first a man"

He turns his body until he is crossed legged on the bed in front of me. He raises his hand to my face and strokes my cheek "I'm sorry. I'm a jealous guy, you know that. Being without you for that long, thinking you were dead. It messed with my head. Then when I find you, you were almost raped. That messed with my head more. I was suspicious of everyone after that. I thought someone was gonna jump out the shadows and take you away from me again."

I nod slowly "You don't think I've been paranoid about that too? Then you got grabbed by those guys at Terminus. That really broke me Daryl. I had you back for five seconds and you were snatched away from me again!" I'm crying heavily at this point.

I wipe my tears away quickly before speaking again. I hold up my pinky "This time we have to swear it and mean it. No more wandering off without each other. No more being separated. Not matter what. No more alone time until we are safe or at least safeish"

Daryl grasps my pinky "No matter what" He replies

I press my forehead to his and look into his baby blues "I love you, Daryl Dixon"

He smiles "I love you too, Guinevere Dixon"

We kiss, it's perfect. Sweet, honest and open. The way we're supposed to be and the way I will make sure we stay. I pull away first "Come what may, Daryl. I will love you and no one else" I smile

"That's a little poetic for our relationship, ain' it?" Daryl asks with a smirk

I laugh "Everyone needs a little poetry now and again"

Daryl's hands caress my waist under my open jacket "Nah, we don' need it, Angel."

I grin "See, that's real love right there" I kiss him again

"That's what we've got" Daryl says


	10. Fires

I stand from the bed "I'm going to get rid of those walkers for Carol" I tell Daryl

He stands quickly and wraps his arms around my waist from behind "I'll do it."

I drop my head back onto his shoulder, my face in his neck "We'll do it together"

He nods, his hair brushes over my face as he does. I breathe him in. Even after everything Daryl still smells like Daryl. That's the thing that keeps me at peace. Daryl grabs his crossbow and we get rid of the two walkers. I block out the fact that one of them was once a kid. I have too for my own sanity. I start a fire as Daryl wraps the bodies. The sun has risen by the time Daryl comes back with the second, small body.

Carol comes out at that moment and she wraps her arms around me motherly. I jump a little in surprise. "Thank you" She whispers and pats Daryl on the arm.

I pat Carol's arm and say "We should go, that smoke might attract unwanted attention"

Daryl nods and heads back in. I move to follow but Carol grips my wrist "You and Daryl make up?"

I smile "We never really fell out." I make sure Daryl is out of earshot before saying "He thought Rick assaulted me"

Carol's eyes widen and she gasps "Why?"

"He was just paranoid. The night he found us, I was nearly raped by one of the men in the group he joined" I tell her.

"The ones that you killed?" Carol asks

I nod "Yeah. Daryl was being beaten to a pulp, Rick and Michonne were being held at gunpoint and Carl was going through the same shit I was. Daryl felt utterly helpless. That's never a good thing. He lost his trust again after that. He thought he was gonna turn around and someone would hurt me or make me disappear."

Carol nods slowly "I get that. I really do. He felt like he had to prevent something that might never happen"

I nod and look at Carol. I know she is the one who killed Karen and David. I knew when I say the wound shape on the back of their heads. The knife was a perfect match to Carol's. I didn't say anything because I was thinking the same thing. She just acted on it. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, before Daryl throws a hissy fit" I say with a smile

Carol smiles and we walk back into the building and back to the room that Carol slept in or maybe she didn't. Who knows? I was having a domestic. I grab my bag from the floor and check my knife and gun are on me. I know they are I just like to check. I see Carol grab a book. I look at the title and smile.

"I loved Tom Sawyer when I was a kid" I tell her

She looks and me and smiles before shoving the book in her bag "It was Sophia's favourite too"

I hear Daryl still in his movements for a moment before clearing his throat and saying "That car was headed downtown. I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see." He says while shouldering his back, his jacket tied to the strap

"We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet, but sooner or later, we're gonna be drawing 'em." Carol says and heads out.

I walk after her and see Daryl pick up a yellow legal pad and I smirk at him "Planning on doing some writing Daryl? Your memoirs perhaps?" I tease

His arm goes around my neck and he pulls me into his side with a quiet laugh "Paper ain' just for writing on"

"Oh really? You gonna go on and tell me the 99 uses for paper now?" I ask with a grin.

Daryl kisses my cheek "Nah, I'll just show ya"

Outside we move quickly and as quietly as possible. The streets are disturbingly empty. I'm assuming they have all congregated somewhere and knowing our fucking luck, they will have congregated in a place we need to go! I hear the groaning first. Always do. By the sounds of it there is quite a few. Daryl puts his arm out and we stop at the corner. He looks at the building across the street, the one we want to get to. The streets are packed with walkers though.

Daryl steps back after peering over the corner and takes off his bag whispering "All right, we can get up there. There's a bridge."

He takes out the yellow legal pad and smirks at me "Watch and learn, Angel" He says

He lights the pad and tosses it across the street. The fire attracts the walkers. Daryl smirks at me before grabbing my hand and rushing around the corner. Carol grabs Daryl's bag and follows quickly.


	11. How Did We Get Here?

We enter the parking structure and Daryl takes his hand back to take down the solo walker inside. He move quickly to avoid too much attention. Daryl takes his bag back as we approach the door to the skybridge.

This place was clearly used as a place to stay at one point. It is a mess, clothes and empty food containers everywhere. As we continues I hear the moans.

"You hear that?" I ask the two older people standing on either side of me.

Both nod and we proceed with caution. The actual bridge part was being used as a camp. There are walkers in sleeping bags and in closed up tents. The three of us look at each other before going around and taking out each self-trapped walker. A walker hits against the inside of a tent.

"Some days, I don't know what the hell to think." Daryl says and steps back quickly as the tent tips over.

"I don't even bother anymore, just gives me unnecessary headaches" I say and step passed the tent quickly but carefully.

The door is chained shut but it does open a bit, I mean a tiny bit. Probably just enough to squeeze through. Daryl holds it open as Carol goes first. She shoves her bag and gun through first before following it easily. Daryl indicates with his head for me to go next. I pass my bag through to Carol and get down on my hands and knees and think I can fit by going straight through. My body ricochets back as my hips get stuck. Daryl snorts with laughter.

I sigh "You have got to be kidding me!" I turn my body to the side and slide through that way.

Daryl hands me his crossbow and follows, he gets stuck too "Good thing we skipped breakfast." He says as he pushes himself through the door.

I hand him his crossbow as he straightens himself "You had the cheek to laugh at me. Prick" I say with a smirk.

I turn and walk after Carol. A hand collides with my ass and I let out a small scream of surprise and propel forward. Carol looks back in shock but Daryl just walks passed me with a smirk.

"That ass just will not quit" Daryl says

My mouth drops open and I follow after a moment of shock. "Is my ass that big?" I ask Carol

She laughs "No, it's not. He's right though."

I smile a little then wince as the once numb smack was starting to sting. I rub it gently, asshole. Daryl whistles at us. He is walking into an office that has double doors. I look around at the large plush office and a bitter smile spreads across my face. This was my dream once. To own an office like this.

"How did we get here?" Carol asks from the window.

I head over. There had clearly been a large fire outside. All greenery that may have been there was now black and so was half of the once white building across from us. Once upon a time, this would have been a nice view.

"Mm-mm. We just did." Daryl replies from behind me.

"You still haven't asked me what happened." Carol says "After I met up with Tyreese, the girls."

"Yeah, I know what happened." Daryl says. I look over up at him curiously "They ain't here." He says bluntly

"It was worse than that." Carol says and I look at her.

"The reason I said we get to start over... is because we gotta. The way it was..." Daryl says and places a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah." Carol replies.

I move forward aiming to hug her when something catches me eye. "What's that?" I say, I see a white van in the distance, on a bridge. There is something on its back windows.

"You see something?" Carol asks

Daryl leans against the window "Hand me that rifle." He says

Carol gives it to him and he peers through the scope in the direction I was looking in. He pulls away and hand the rifle to Carol "Right there."

She looks through the scope in the direction Daryl points in "It's been there a while. Definitely one of 'em." She says and lowers the rifle

"It's definitely some kind of lead." Daryl says

Carol turns to me "How the hell can you see that from here?"

I shrug "I've always had great eyesight."

Carol stares at me with a gentle smile "I forget how young you actually are"

I look at her in confusion. I can feel Daryl's eyes on the back of my head.

Carol walks passed me to the water cooler "We should fill up."

"All right." Daryl says.

I sit on the giant chair behind the desk and spin in it a little. Daryl watches me with a small smile "What you doin'?" He asks

I smile "Testing it out." I look around the office. "I always dreamed I would one day have an office like this. Be one of the big dogs" I say with grin then look out the window "Although, I don't think I would ever have fit in with this lifestyle. I'd be mutton dressed as lamb"

Daryl's smile stays in place and he shrugs "I don' know, I think you woulda been suited for a place like this. Especially now. You're the leader after all"

I grin "That's only 'cause I like bossing you around"

Daryl smirks then turns to looks at the painting on the wall.

"Hmm. What?" Carol asks taking a drink from the canteen and handing it to Daryl

"I bet this cost some rich prick a lot of money. Looks like a dog sat in paint, wiped its ass all over the place." Daryl says following the brush strokes with his hand animatedly then taking a drink and passing the canteen to me.

I take it with a grin and a shake of my head.

"Really? I kinda like it." Carol says

Daryl snorts with laughter "Stop."

"I'm serious." Carol says with a grin and turns her back to Daryl "You don't know me."

I stand and grab my bag with a little laugh. Oh yeah we do.

"Yep, you keep tellin' yourself that." Daryl says and walks out the room.

I walk with Carol "What did you think?"

"Of the painting?" I ask

She nods and I take another drink from the canteen and hand it back to her "I think it is some posh bastards idea of 'modern art' I would much rather have a Van Gogh or a Monet. Impressionist paintings" I say without thinking.

I notice both Carol and Daryl have stopped and are staring at me with amused looks on their faces "What?" I ask with a shrug

"Is there anything you don't know?" Carol asks

I think for a moment "I sucked at home ec. I was not built for domestic life"

Carol laughs "Yet you got married"

"Yeah, during the apocalypse! Doesn't exactly scream white picket fence with the perfect garden and 2.5 kids does it?" I say with a smirk. I take Daryl's hand as we walk "Besides, me and Daryl aren't exactly the Brady's are we?"

Daryl scoffs "That's for damn sure"

"I think we're more like the Addams'. Much cooler people" I say with a grin and Daryl laughs.

Carol laughs too as we reach the door to the skybridge "I can see that" She says with a grin and pushes the door open.


	12. Fall Of Faith

Carol shoves her stuff through the gap and crawls through, I'm right behind her. The feet I'm staring at cause me to jump to my feet quickly and reach for my gun as Carol says "Daryl don't"

Too late Daryl is half way through. The kid points Carol's rifle at me. "Please don't do that" he says.

I raise my hands. "Get up." The kids says pointing the gun at Daryl

Daryl stands angrily. "Hands up, all of you. Lay down your crossbow."

Daryl hesitates, like I've said before. There is a chance he loves that thing more than me "You got some sack on you." Daryl grunts

"Look, nobody has to get hurt. I just need weapons, that's it. So, please, lay down your crossbow." The kid babbles. Daryl puts down his crossbow and the kid dives for it and picks it up "Back up." He demands, we do. He looks between us "Sorry about this. You look tough. You'll be all right"

With that he cuts open the tents and takes off, leaving us to deal with the walkers. That little fucker! Daryl cuts down one and Carol shoots the other. She lifts her gun and aims it at the kid. Daryl pushes her hand down as she fires and she narrowly missing him. I take off after the kid and the other two follow. The door is completely locked by the time my body collides with it. Daryl tries to get it to open but fails.

I kick the door hard "That little fuck!" I shout

"Let's find another way out" Daryl says and takes my hand and pulls me along quickly.

Carol storms after us. We enter an abandoned building level when Carol finally speaks "Eight bullets. We're in the middle of a city. He was stealing our weapons."

Daryl pulls me along, ignoring her "Did you think I was gonna kill him? I was aiming for his leg. Could that have killed him? Maybe, I don't know. But he was stealing our weapons." Carol defends as we come across a door

"He's a damn kid." Daryl says and starts to pick away at the lock on the door

"Without weapons we could die. Beth could die." Carol says angrily

"We'll find more weapons." Daryl replies calmly

I don't want you two to die." Carol says slowly "I don't want Beth to die. I don't want anybody at the church to die, but I can't stand around and watch it happen either. I can't." Daryl drops his bag to the ground. Carol continues "That's why I left. I just had to be somewhere else."

Daryl turns on her angrily and yells "Well, you ain't somewhere else; you're right here. Tryin'."

I put my hand on his arm "Daryl" I say calmly. He looks at me before going back to what he was doing

"Look, you're not who you were and neither is Gwen, neither am I." Carol says and Daryl pops the door open with and breaths out

"I don't know if I believe in God anymore or heaven, but if I'm going to hell, I'm making damn sure I'm holding it off as long as I can." Carol snaps.

She bends down and grabs Daryl's bag, it tips open and the contents fall out. A book included. My heart hurts again. It's the 'treating survivors of childhood abuse' book Daryl was staring at back at the shelter. Daryl stares at Carol. I don't know if she knows what I know but it doesn't matter. I bend down and pick up the book and shove it back in Daryl's bag before leaving out the door silently.

I head down the stairwell slowly, knife out and ready. Once we're outside and heading for the bridge I feel Daryl's bag being tugged off my shoulder. I look at Daryl and let the bag slip off my arm. I squeeze his hand once before letting go.

The van is half balanced on the bridge, I'm positive one good shove and the thing will go flying off the edge. Daryl opens one door quickly and pauses, nothing jumps out so he open the other and steps back.

"All right, let's get this done." Daryl says

"It's not stable. I'm lighter" Carol says.

Daryl just gives her a look before hoping into the van. I hear the grunts of walker and look both ways "Uh, let's get in too" I say and climb in after Daryl.

The whole thing shakes as Carol joins me. Daryl is already in the Driver's seat looking at something. Carol crawls down to join him, I stay up the back to try and keep the weight balanced. The growling is louder and closer.

"There's more coming. We're gonna have to fight through." Carol says from up front

"Yeah, I see 'em." Daryl replies.

Carol joins me at the back of the van "We have to go." She says

Daryl turns the gurney on its side "GMH, what's that? A hospital?" He asks

"I don't know. Grady Memorial, maybe?" Carol says

"Grady, the white crosses- it might be where they're holing up." Daryl says as we jump out the van.

The site shocks me. We are surrounded by walkers. I take out my gun and start shooting but there's too many. We're never getting through.

"Go! Go!" Daryl shouts, grabbing the back of my shirt and yanking me back into the van.

He kicks away a walker trying to climb in then slams both doors closed.

"Now what?" I ask looking around for… anything!

"Anything we can use?" Carol asks

"Nothin' but what we got." Daryl replies.

He grips my wrist and pulls me to my feet and tentatively walks down the van and into the Driver's seat. There is only two seats. Daryl realises this and pulls me onto his lap. Carol slides into the passenger seat.

"All right, buckle up." Daryl says and stretches the belt to go around both of us.

"This is crazy!" I exclaim. My face is too close to the steering wheel for my liking.

Daryl is far from stupid. He holds my head to his chest tightly, his arms act as a soft barrier between my skull and the steering wheel. I feel a soft hand on mine and I grip it tightly and try and contain my panic. The van jolts forward and I jump and grip Daryl's shirt with my free hand. I place a kiss on his chest. The van jolts again and I feel butterflies in my stomach as it plummets southwards. I let out an involuntary scream as we go. The impact of the landing throws us forward. Despite the protection of Daryl's arms, my head still hits something hard and causes a ringing in my ears. My arm becomes painfully trapped at an awkward angle between my body and the steering wheel. Daryl sits back quickly and releases my arm. I let out a relieved groan. I look at Daryl who seems fine then over to Carol who has a cut on her temple but otherwise fine. I sigh. I'm fine too. My arm doesn't half hurt though and I'm kind of seeing stars.

"We're okay" Carol sighs in relief.

Daryl grabs my face and looks at me carefully "You okay?" He asks

I nod "Yeah, arms a bit numb and there's two of you but I'm okay"

A walker hits the roof, followed by another and another and another. It's like walker hailstones out there. When everything is silent we decide to move. My vison has cleared up at least. We get out of the car and Carol isn't so lucky, she's a bit unfocused and is limping. Daryl and I help her move along.

"Which way is Grady?" I ask

"Just keep goin' this way" Daryl says.


	13. Grey Area

We make it to an industrial estate and I can't hold up mine and Carol's weights anymore. "Daryl, I need to stop!" I pant, my arm is killing me.

Daryl nods "Okay, this way"

He leads us into a completely abandoned loading dock and sits Carol down. The minute her weight is off me, my legs betray me and before I know it I'm on the ground.

"Jesus, Gwen!" Daryl says worriedly and lifts me off the floor and places me next to Carol.

"Sorry, I'm fine really, legs just betrayed me for a second there." I look at Carol "You alright?"

"Yeah, just my arm" She says

"Let me see" I say and twist my body.

"I'm fine" She repeats

"Prove it" Daryl challenges

She sighs and moves her shirt over for me to look. I inspect the pretty purple bruise developing on her collar bone. I smile "It'll hurt for a bit but it doesn't look dislocated. It may be fractured through"

I move my arm and flinch "Ow" I mutter and push my jacket off gingerly. I look at my shoulder "fuck"

Daryl moves round to look at it "It's dislocated" He says. He looks at me "I'm gonna pop it back in okay?" he asks

I nod "Okay"

Carol grips my hand as Daryl puts all his weight into popping my shoulder back in its socket. I draw blood as I bite down on my lip to stop the scream of pain. I kick my legs a few times to distract my brain from the pain. Daryl kisses my forehead.

"It's done, you're okay" He mutters quietly.

I nod slowly "Yeah, I'm okay." I roll my shoulder tenderly to check it out. It's fine, a little numb but fine.

I take the canteen Carol offers me and drink. "Well, that was fun" I mutter and hand the canteen to Daryl.

"Damn, that was stupid." Daryl says, sitting beside me

"We made good time down" Carol says with a smile and Daryl scoffs "There's only three blocks between us and Grady." Carol says

"We need to find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see." Daryl says

"You really think we're gonna find out what we need to know just by watching?" Carol asks

"It's where we start. Come on." Daryl says and jumps up.

We enter a building and get as high as we can and aim for the side facing the hospital. We come across one walker which Daryl kills with the machete in the walker's hand.

Carol and I move to the window and there it is, one big ass hospital "It's them" Carol says

Daryl joins us with a plastic bag in his hand "Alright, let's see what we see" He says and hands Carol a bag of crisps then me, then one for himself.

I get myself comfy on the window ledge and just stare at the hospital. Daryl voice disturbs my empty thoughts "You said I ain't like how I was before?"

"Yeah." Carol replies

"How was I?" Daryl asks and I look at Carol, curious to her answer

"It's like you were a kid. Now you're a man." Carol replies. I look up at Daryl and remember back to the first few months, how he acted; abrasive, rude, untrue to who he really was, the way Merle pulled his strings so easily. Childlike. Now? No one could force Daryl to act in a way that's wrong for him, sure he's still abrasive and rude but that's one of the things I love about him.

"What about you?" Daryl asks Carol

Carol stares at her hands for a moment before answering "Me and Sophia stayed at that shelter for a day and a half before I went running back to Ed. I went home, I got beat up, life went on, and I just kept praying for something to happen. But I didn't do anything. Not a damn thing. Who I was with him... she got burned away. And I was happy about that. I mean, not happy, but... And at the prison I got to be who I always thought I should be, thought I should've been. And then she got burned away. Everything now just... consumes you."

I stare fixated on the window. I get that. "Well, hey... we ain't ashes." Daryl says

"What about Gwen?" Daryl asks

My head snaps around and Carol smiles "Like I said before. I forget how young she is. How old are you again? 30?" Carol asks

I smile "26"

Carol laughs a little "26 going on 60."

I smile "Grew up young anyway. I have always been mature for my age I suppose. Even when I was a kid, never really let anyone walk over me, not even _him_."

"Him?" Carol asks

I don't even know if I have ever told Carol about Keith, my ex. "You know what really gets me? How this world and the old world are not that different. People killed people before. Disease killed people before. Except in this world it's simpler. Someone kills or hurts someone you love. You hurt or kill them back. Black and white, no grey area. Not anymore. Back then the grey area was fine to me, it was the system, there were rules and I followed them, never questioned them. Not often anyway." I look over at Carol with a smile

"Grey area?" She asks

I shift a little "I'll use a personal example. My ex-boyfriend slit my wrist and left me on the floor to die. I wake up in a hospital bed three days later and people are telling me how lucky I am to have a man that cares so much about me. You can imagine my confusion. Turns out he told everybody, police included that I slit my own wrist and he saved me from myself" I scoff "Everyone who wasn't my immediate family actually believed it. Bastard even had the cheek to visit me in hospital. My dad was furious but what could he do. Anything happened to Keith the police would be on my dad. See that's the grey area. The police didn't believe me when I told them that it was Keith. Why would they? Keith was an upstanding member of society who donated to charity, was a member of the army reserves and volunteered at the local hospital, shit like that. I was the daughter of a prolific Mob Boss. Of course I was lying, it's in my DNA after all. I was just being an attention seeking, ungrateful bitch"

Carol is staring at me in shock, she didn't know "Why did he hurt you?" she asks

"I laughed at him. I said I was going to do a masters, he told me that wasn't going to happen. I was going to marry him and have his babies and be a home maker. I laughed. No one tells me what to do or who I will be. Not then not now. But you see, if he did that in this world, I would have slit his bastarding throat right there and then for even raising his fucking hand to me." I click my fingers "Just like that, no grey area."

Carol nods "Yeah, I get that."

Daryl nods "Me too."

I laugh "Doesn't mean I'm gonna go around killing folk for no reason or anything just don't fuck with me and everyone will be fine"

Daryl and Carol both laugh a little. I hear a door close in the distance and I jump to my feet.


	14. Tragedy

I pick up my bag and follow Daryl through the corridors. We come across a walker with a bolt in its neck and it's still snapping.

"Is that yours?" Carol asks

"Yeah" Daryl says then slices through the walker's skull and takes back his bolt.

A gun goes off in the distance and Carol runs ahead. I gasp when I see a walker take her down. "No! Carol!" I gasp and run forward.

Daryl beats me to the walker and kills it. "Go! Go! I've got Carol" I tell him and help Carol to her feet.

Carol and I follow Daryl and hear a bang as we approach. We pick up our speed and there is the kid from before lying underneath a bookcase and a walker trying to get through the door.

I approach slowly and look down at the kid, he looks about 18ish. Daryl grabs Carol's rifle and his crossbow "Plea- please. I had to protect myself." The kid pleads

"Why you followin' us?" Daryl yells after he hands Carol the rifle

"I-I didn't, I swear! I thought you followed me." The kid says

"Bullshit." Daryl replies

He spots a box of cigarettes and hands me his crossbow. He takes out the last pack and looks down at the kid as he pleads "Come on, man. Plea- please!"

Daryl opens the pack and takes a cigarette into his mouth and says as he's lighting up "Nah, I already helped you once. It ain't happenin' again."

I'm shocked, what is he doing? He's just a kid. I'd take the thing off him myself but I can't one handed.

"Have fun with Hoss over there." Daryl says and walks over to me and takes the crossbow off me "Come on"

The kid pleads relentlessly "No. No, no, no. No. No, no, no! Please! Please! Please! I'm sorry, please! Please! Please, please!" Daryl walks away

"Daryl. Daryl. Stop." Carol says

"You almost died 'cause of him!" Daryl snaps

"But I didn't." Carol says

"Nah, let him be. Grey area right?" Daryl says and walks away

The walker is squeezing through "Daryl Dixon, you get back here!" I shout at him.

The walker gets through and is going for the kid. I struggle to use my knife in my right hand. I'm a leftie after all and it's my left arm that is fucked. A bolt embeds into the walker's skull. I look back at Daryl with a relieved smile. Carol moves the corpse as Daryl lifts the bookcase. I pull the kid out so Daryl can drop it again.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The kid says gratefully. He limps to the window.

"You okay?" Daryl asks Carol

"I'm still here." Carol replies.

"I gotta go. I gotta go. They're gonna come." The kid says "They probably heard the shot. If they find me..."

"Who?" Daryl asks

"Them, people at the hospital." The kid says and tries to get past us

"Wait, wait, wait, just tell us- is there a blonde girl there? You see a blonde girl?" Daryl asks holding the kid back

"Beth? You know her?" The kid asks

I grin "Yes! Is she okay? Is she hurt?" I ask

"She helped me get out, but she's still there." The kid replies

"They're coming." Carol says

"We gotta go now. We gotta go. We gotta go" The kid says and leads us away.

"The building next door has a basement. It's clear. We'll be safe." The kid says as we reach the bottom level. Suddenly he collapses with a noise of pain.

I lean down and get his arm over my shoulder. Daryl gets down on his other side "Go, we got him." He calls to Carol. She nods and keeps going. "Come on, get up. Get up." Daryl growls at the kid

I look up in time to see Carol get hit by a car. "No!" I cry and run forward. The kids grabs both Daryl and I and struggles to hold us back.

"Wait! They can help her. They're the only ones who can. They have medicine, machines, a doctor. You go out there, you'll have to kill them, okay? And then she can't get their help. Is that what you want?" I watch as two officers load Carol onto a gurney and put her in the car.

I collapse into Daryl with a sob "We can get her back. We can get Beth back." The kid says

Daryl shakes him off and holds me to him as I hold back the need to kill those people "What's it gonna take?" Daryl asks

"A lot. They got guns, people." The kid replies

"So do we." Daryl says. He pushes me back and lifts my face to look at him "Gwen, look at me. We'll go get Rick and we'll get Carol and Beth back"

I nod and wipe my eyes "Okay"

"Okay" He grips my hand and we head out.

There is a truck and we need it to get out of here. The only thing between it and us is a handful of walkers and a fence. Daryl starts a fire in a dumpster to get their attention then we sneak away and make a run for it. We get through the fence, into the truck and after a little hotwiring, we're off.

I lean my head back against my seat "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I shout and kick the glove box.

The kid jumps but Daryl puts his hand on my knee "Angel, you need to relax."

I take a deep shaky breath and sit up "I know, I know. You know me, stressing about things out of my control"

Daryl pulls me sideways and kisses my head "you will be, soon"

I look over at the scared kid with a gentle smile. He immediately relaxes. I hold out my hand "Hi, I'm Guinevere Dixon. This is my husband Daryl."

He takes my hand and we shake "I'm Noah"

"Nice to meet you Noah. Let's start again, right Daryl?" I say looking at my husband "Because we have too"

Daryl nods.

"You two are married?" Noah asks

I nod "Yeah"

"Why?" Daryl snaps.

Noah shakes his head vigorously and I giggle "Don't worry, his bark is worse than his bite"

I think for a moment "Actually no it's not."

Back at the Church we exit the woods and come face to face with a Michonne. Who has her sword out… her sword? Where the hell did she get that? She looks relieved when she sees us.

"Where's Carol?" She asks

Daryl and I look at each other sadly. He turns to Noah who is hiding in the trees. "Come on out"

Noah steps out nervously "This is Noah. We found him in Atlanta"

"Atlanta?" Michonne says surprised "Why were you in Atlanta"

"Come inside, we'll tell everyone together" I say.

We head in. I notice the group is smaller, I also notice the blood. "What happened here?" I ask

Rick looks up and runs for us. He envelopes me in a hug "Thank God! Where the hell have you two been? Who is that?"

I hug Carl with one arm as he attaches himself to my hip.

"This is Noah, where's Maggie, Glenn and Nessa?" I ask in fear.

"They left" Rick replies stepping back.

"Left?" I ask panicked "Where'd they go?"

"DC" Rick replies

"DC!" I shriek.

"Gwen, they volunteered to go ahead with Abraham, Rosita and Eugene, we'll catch up" Rick says "We'll all here now… where's Carol?"

Daryl and I look at each other "We know where Beth is" Daryl says

Rick's eyes widen "Beth? Where?"

"She's at Grady Memorial, there is a group of police officers that save people and then refuse to let them leave." Noah says "Beth helped me escape but she's still there"

"Carol was run over by them and they took her there" I tell Rick. "We let them take her because Noah says they have a Doctor and medicine that can save her"

"We have another problem" Rick says

"What?" I ask

"Bob was bit, then kidnapped by the survivors of Terminus. That's who's blood you see. They came here to kill us, they…" Rick takes a deep breath "They ate Bob's leg"

I cover my mouth with my hand in horror "Oh God. Where is he?"

"He died" Rick replies

I inhale sharply and try and control my tears "This can't be happening" I mutter and run my hand through my hair

Daryl's hand comes down on my shoulder. "Right, we need to get Beth and Carol. We need to fortify this place first"

Rick nods "Yeah, Carl will stay here with Judith and the priest"

"I will too" Michonne says

I nod "Let's do this"


	15. The Plan

We ripped the whole church apart, Sasha hasn't spoken to a person since we got back, right now she is taking her emotions out on a pew with an axe. I'm outside setting out a spiked barrier around the entrance of the church with the pipes from the organ that Daryl brings out. Gabriel is watching me work, not looking impressed, I couldn't really give a fuck what he thinks.

Daryl comes back with more pipes and we start sticking them in the ground. "Are you going to take the cross too?" Gabriel asks

"If we need it" Daryl replies

Rick, Andy, Michonne, Carl and Noah are nailing wood to the windows of the church. Our group has shrunk by half in the space of 48 hours, I lost my sister again.

An hour later we're ready to go. I say my goodbyes to Judith and Carl, then Michonne "Don't say goodbye" Michonne says to me

I look at her confused "You'll be back" Michonne says firmly.

I nod "Yeah, I'll be back"

I walk over to Andy "You sure you don't want to stay?"

"I'm coming with you, for Beth" He says firmly.

I nod "You've grown up so much. I'm proud of you"

Andy nods "Thanks" He walks away and climbs into the back of the van with Noah and Sasha.

Rick hands Judith to Michonne and hugs Carl saying "All right. We'll be back soon."

"I know" Carl replies

I smile before jumping into the front of the van, middle seat again. Daryl drives and Rick gets in the other side. "Your arm okay?" Daryl asks

I nod "Yeah, had worse"

"What happened to your arm?" Rick asks

I exhale loudly "That is a long story and I'm too ti… I'm not in the mood"

I almost said tired. I have noticed how tired I'm getting lately, for no reason other than maybe my anemia. It's been such a long time since I had tablets but I can't let something so trivial get in my way.

We're in Atlanta and back in the industrial area Daryl, Carol and I were in the last time we were here. Noah draws a map of the hospital on the ground, tells us where everything is and where everyone is most likely to me. Rick makes a plan and shares it with us.

"At sundown we fire a shot into the air. Get two of them out on patrol. Then once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go. We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Daryl takes the guard out."

"How?" Tyreese asks

"He slits his throat. This is all about us doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us. From there, we fan out. Knives and silenced weapons. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, Andy take them." He makes two crosses on a room on the map "Daryl and Gwen, you take care of whoever is in the kitchen. I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up. Then it'll be seven on three. eight on three once we get a weapon to Beth."

"14 on three." Noah says "The wards will help."

"That's best case. What's worst case?" Tyreese asks "All it takes is one of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands on deck. We're talking about a lot of bullets flying around."

"If that's what it takes." Sasha says

"It's not. If we get a couple of her cops alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home." Tyreese says

I nod "Yeah, that might work."

Rick stands "This will work."

"Nah, that'll work, too. You say this Dawn, she's just trying to keep it together, right?" Daryl asks Noah

"Trying and doing are two different things." Noah replies

"You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have? Everybody goes home." Daryl says

Rick looks at me "Either way the possibility of something going wrong is, at this point, inevitable. The trade sounds like the option that'll incur a smaller body count, if any… hopefully" I say. I'm game either way but the less of our people that has to die the better.

Rick nods "Alright, we'll do it your way" He says to Tyreese.

I clap my hands together "Cool, right we'll do the shot firing thing and I think Noah should do it. They're looking for him. Fire the gun, wait till they appear then run around here. Wait till they're out of their car. We come up from behind, guns on them. Boom done"


	16. Cops of Grady

That's how it went down. The cops were a man and a woman. We let them put ziplocks on Noah before coming out.

Daryl whistles to get their attention. The cops turns with their gun on us just to see they are severely outnumbered "Hands" Rick says

"What do you want? Whatever this is, we can help." The guy cop says

"You do what we say, we don't hurt you." Rick tells them.

"Okay." The guy cop says and puts his hands up. The woman copies reluctantly

"Good. Now turn around. Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Rick says

They do as they are told. Daryl and Sasha take their guns and tie ziplocks to their wrists.

I walk around in front of them and smile "We need to talk. There's water if you need some and food. We don't want to hurt you so please don't do anything stupid" I say inflexibly

Daryl and Sasha force the two to their feet and the guy cop turn to look at Rick.

"Mind if I ask you something?" The guy asks "The way you talk... the way you carry yourself... were you a cop?" After a silence he says "Believe it or not, I was, too."

"That's Lamson. He'll be down for this. He's one of the good ones." Noah says

At that moment a car come screeching around the corner. We dive out of the way and behind the dumpster as bullets start flying. We fire back, all we need to do is disable the car. Our hostage manage to get in the car and it drives away. Sasha takes out the back wheel.

We run after it. The car is there as we turn the corner, doors wide open. What really attracts me is the dead literally plastered to the ground, they are all walkers. Even when basically skeletonised the disease persists. Looking around I see a couple of burned out porta-cabins. No cops. They'll be here somewhere. I see two of them run off. I'm right behind Rick as he runs after them.

I stop and turn when I feel something's off "Daryl!" I call and turn back.

"Go, go!" Rick yells at the others. I hear him run behind me.

I see Daryl hitting the third cop with a skull. I feel rage rush through me as I run over and pull out my gun. Rick shoots the walker skull out of the cop's hand.

"Get away from him" I snap angrily.

The guy moves away from Daryl slowly with his hands up "You win, asshole" He says

I holster my gun and run over to Daryl and help him up, he's covered in soot and his hands are covered in blood and thick with soot. "Are you okay? You bit?" I ask worriedly.

"No, no, I'm fine" He replies

I look over at Rick who has that look in his eyes and his gun moving closer to the cops face.

"Rick. Rick" Daryl says gently. "Rick, three is better than two"

Rick lowers his gun while blinking. I nod with a smile as Daryl ties the cop's hands together. "You are one lucky son of a bitch" I tell the cop.

He looks at me and scoffs "Yeah, I feel real lucky"

I smile coldly "You're alive ain't ya? You're fucking lucky I didn't kill you myself"

We take them up to the building we hand set up in earlier. The woman cop speaks to me "You, what's your name?" I ignore her. "Please, I need to talk to you and your friend. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed."

"We're gonna make it work." Sasha says

"It would work if you had different cops to trade. Dawn's running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too." The woman says

"Dawn doesn't know that." The cop that Rick nearly killed says

"She might. And she's smart. So there's a good chance you can't make this deal work and that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves and then we'll let your friends go and this is over." The woman says

No, we're not gonna do that." Lamson says

"Do you want to die?" The woman asks

"No. I just need you to shut up right now." Lamson says "You can make this work. But you've got to be able to talk to her."

"Noah told us all about her." Sasha says

"I've known her for eight years, ma'am. I know this woman. And my only interest is peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please." Lamson says

I feel Tyreese, Sasha, Andy and Daryl look at me. I take a deep breath and nod "Alright, we'll hear you out"

"Thank you" Lamson says

"Alright" Daryl says then turns "Hey, Rick. You're gonna want to hear this."

Tyreese and Sasha volunteer to go search the cars as Andy, Daryl and Noah keep watch by the window. Rick and I listen to what Lamson has to say.

"She'll tell you she won't make a deal. She'll tell you she won't compromise. But she will. She always does. Just, just know who you're talking to." Lamson finishes after a long winded description of this Dawn chick. Lassie has nae balls on her

"Well, cheers pal, that helps" I tell him and he smiles up at me

"Probably heading out in the next 10 minutes or so. Anything you need before we leave?" Rick asks

"Actually, water would be great." He says

"Will do. Thanks, Sergeant Lamson." Rick says

"My name's Bob." He says and Sasha, who just got back, stops what she's doing and almost collapses

"You're still a cop." Rick says

"No. No, the real ones are all gone." Lamson says.

We walk away and Rick and I talk away from Lamson, Daryl comes over, Tyreese replacing him.

"What did he say?" Daryl asks

"Say this Dawn lassie puts on a front but she's as bent as a roundabout. She'll cave easily" I tell him

"You believe him?" Daryl asks

I shrug

"It's his life he's putting on the line too, why would he risk it?" Rick says

Daryl nods "So, what's the plan?"

"We'll send a message to the hospital telling them who we've got and who we want, tell them they've got an hour to meet us. It should go smoothly." I say

We head back to the group and I notice Sasha and Lamson is gone. "Where's Sasha?" I ask

Tyreese, Daryl, Rick and I run through to the front of the building. I see Sasha on the ground. "Sasha!" I rush over and she's bleeding from her forehead.


	17. Beth

"Lamson" Sasha groans

Rick is back out the door before I could say anything. Daryl helps me get Sasha back to the main room. Tyreese runs over looking panicked "Are you okay?" He asks her.

Sasha nods "I'm fine"

I clean her wound and patch it up. Rick comes back without Lamson. I follow Daryl as he heads over to him.

"He wouldn't stop." Rick says

This change things?" Daryl asks

"It has to" Rick says

"Maybe not." Daryl argues

"She said the plan won't work. The guy who did is dead. Maybe we gotta rethink this." Rick says

"They also said the cop in charge didn't have any love for him. Maybe you did her a favour." Daryl suggests

"I don't know if they'll play ball." Rick says

"Let's find out." Daryl replies and we head back over

"He was a good man." Shepard says "He was attacked by rotters. Saw it go down."

"Huh. You're a damn good liar." Rick says

"We're hanging by a thread here. He was attacked by rotters. That's the story." Shepard says firmly

"You said the trade was a bad idea. What changed?" Daryl asks

"Lamson was our shot. So it's this or you go in guns blazing, right? You don't want that." Shepard says

"If this is some bullshit you're spinning and things go south..." Daryl threatens

"I know. I know the good ones from the bad. Let us help you." Shepard says, this time I'm hesitant

"What about you?" Rick asks, pointing at Licari "You wanna live? How much?"

Licari looks at him and says "Dawn's afraid she'll look weak in front of us. Thinks it'll tip things against her. Hell, it will. She'll see this trade as a rip-off if she thinks you took out one of our guys. So it's a good thing Lamson got aced by rotters."

An hour later Rick and I are waiting at the meeting point in a police car park, the others are up on the roof, weapons pointed down at us.

The radio crackles with static "They're headed to the vantage point"

"Okay. Copy that." Rick replies

A police car approaches and Rick raises his hands, I follow his example as the car stops and two, male police officers step out with their guns on us "Officer Franco. Officer McGinley. I'm Rick Grimes. I was a deputy in the King County Sheriff's Department. This is Doctor Guinevere Dixon, Forensic Anthropologist. We're here to make a proposal."

"Lay your weapons on the ground." One of the cops demand

"All right." Rick replies and nods

I mirror Rick's movements as he removes his gun and places it on the ground in front of him. I stand straight and turn in a circle slowly as instructed by the officers. They close their doors and step forward with they're guns still pointed at us.

"What's your proposal?" The officer on the right asks

"You have two of our people, I have two of yours. We want to make an exchange. Then we'll be on our way. No one gets hurt." Rick says

"Who?" The officer on the right asks

"Officers Shepherd and Licari for Beth and Carol. Carol is the woman you picked up yesterday after your people hit her with a car." I tell them

"Noah, he's with you? That's how you know?" Officer Right says

"Yes, he is." Rick replies

"What about Officer Lamson?" Officer Right asks

"He was attacked by the dead before we got to him." Rick replies

"Where are your people?" Officer right asks as a walker comes towards us and almost as if the universe timed it perfectly the walker falls from a silenced gunshot

I smirk as the officers jump "They're close." I say

"Radio your lieutenant. We'll wait." Rick says

Half an hour later we're being lead into the hospital by the two officers. We proceed with care, making sure that we have our hostages directly in front of us but close by and held tightly. Numerous corridors and four flights of stairs later we approach the door to the ward. Through the small slices of glass I can see the officers, I can also see Beth and Carol and I force back my grin.

"Holster your weapons." I hear Dawn say

"You, too." Rick tells us. We do.

We walk through the door. I see four officers standing over by our people plus one Doctor. Including the two that led us here that means six versus seven if things go south.

"They haven't been harmed." Rick says

"Where's Lamson?" The woman at the front who I am assuming is Dawn asks

"Rotters got him. We saw it go down." Shepard says

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys." Dawn replies "One of yours for one of mine."

"All right." Rick says and nods to Daryl

"Move." Daryl says to Licari and pushes him forward. One of their officers brings Carol down in a wheelchair with her bag. Daryl takes her and the bag and brings her back quickly. My heart is pounding in anticipation that this will work out. Once Carol is over I hug her tightly. Rick takes Shepard up and swaps Dawn for Beth.

Beth all but runs into my arms. I hug her to me tightly "You're okay, I've got you." I whisper and I lead her away. Daryl pats Beth's arm and Andy smiles. A rarity these days.

"Glad we could work things out." Dawn says

"Yeah." Rick says and moves to follow us

"Now I just need Noah. And then you can leave." Dawn says.

I look back angrily "That wasn't part of the deal." Rick snaps

"Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back." Dawn says

"Ma'am, please, it's not..." Shepard starts

"Shut up!" Dawn snaps "My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died."

"No, he ain't staying." Daryl snaps and walks over to Rick. I hold Beth to me.

"He's one of mine. You have no claim on him." Dawn says

"The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him." Rick says

"Well, then we don't have a deal." Dawn says

"The deal is done!" Rick snaps

"It's okay." Noah says and limps forward

"No. No." Rick says angrily putting his arm up

"I got to do it." Noah says

"It's not okay." Beth whispers from beside me and she moves forward, I follow her instinctively

"It's settled." Dawn says with a self-satisfied smirk that I really want to wipe off her face

"Wait!" Beth shouts and runs forward and hugs Noah tightly.

"It's okay." Noah says to her

"I knew you'd be back." I hear Dawn say.

Beth pulls away from Noah and stands in front of Dawn "I get it now." Beth says

It happened in an instant. Beth stabs Dawn in the chest with a pair of scissors and a gun goes off and the back of Beth's head bursts open. Anguish floods through me and my body moves on its own. Tears flood down my face as I skid across the ground on my knees to Beth's corpse.

"NO!" I scream loudly and gather her body into my arms "Beth, no!" I cry

Another gunshot sounds through the air and Dawn collapses to the ground in front of me. I couldn't care less as I hold Beth's head to my chest and cry relentlessly. She's only 18! I don't even look up as guns are pulled on both sides.

"No! Hold your fire!" Shepard yells "It's over. It was just about her. Stand down."

Andy drops down beside me and is staring at Beth his tears in his eyes. I can hear Daryl's sobs behind me. "You can stay. We're surviving here. It's better than out there."

"No." Rick snaps "And I'm taking anyone back there who wants to leave. If you want to come with us... just step forward now."

No one other than Noah comes forward. Daryl kneels down in front of me and tries to take Beth off of me "No!" I sob "No, I have her"

Daryl shushes me through sobs "Gwen, let me"

I let him take Beth off me reluctantly and he lifts her into his arms. I pull myself to my own feet and turn and leave the hospital without looking back or looking up. When I do finally look up I sob again when I see Maggie amongst the group walking towards us. She looks at us expectantly.

She falls to her knees in tears and screams when she see Daryl come out with Beth in his arms. Nessa doesn't even try to hide the tears as they fall down her face, her gun clatters to the floor.


	18. Catatonic

What happens next was all a blur. We found a place to bury Beth I know that much. I'm also aware how distant I have become. I haven't spoken in days. I barely drink, I don't eat. The elated feeling I had just a couple of days ago, gone. I'm vaguely aware we're heading to Virginia because apparently Eugene is a big fat liar and there is no cure, hell he's not even a fucking scientist! I know I've been alternating between holding Maggie, Andy, Nessa and Daryl over the last few days. Not really registering who but I seem to be a comfort. This morning I was aware of switching cars and Rick, Noah, Michonne, Glenn, Tyreese and Nessa going off somewhere. I remember one conversation about my well-being between Glenn and Maggie.

"She's catatonic" Glenn says to Maggie

"She and Beth were really close. I'm pretty sure every single one of us would end up like that if Gwen died" Maggie replies and I instantly feel awful. Beth was Maggie's sister. I've known the girl a year and a half.

"Yeah but I'm really worried, when was the last time she even drank something?" Glenn asks

"I'll deal with that, you go" Maggie replies

"Okay" Glenn says

Maggie sits next to me in the roasting hot car, even with the doors open its a thousand degrees. A water bottle is waved under my nose. "Please drink this"

I can't turn Maggie down. I take the bottle and almost down it. Not realising how thirsty I was. I hand the bottle back "I'm sorry"

"You needed it" She says

"No, I'm sorry about being like this. I should be comforting you, she was your sister and yet here I am. Catatonic. Selfish." I say quietly, so quietly I'm surprised she even heard me

Maggie pulls me to her tightly "Don't be sorry for loving someone. I'm not. Beth is gone but she wouldn't want to me to fall into a depression. She would want us to celebrate who she was."

I nod against Maggie's chest "That does sound like her, she would tell us we don't get to cry anymore and that we have jobs to do"

"Exactly" Maggie says "Please come back. Daryl's starting to follow your lead"

That got my attention. I look up and out of the car. Daryl is sitting against a tree staring blankly at a bolt. "I should talk to him" I say to Maggie

"Yeah, you should" she replies

I look up at the girl and kiss her on the lips "You're my angel."

She grins "Thanks"

I climb out of the car and head over to Daryl and stand in front of him, casting a shadow over his body. He looks up at me surprised and I stare at him guiltily "Hi" I say

He smiles "Hi"

I kneel down in front of him and take the bolt out of his hand and set it aside, close enough so he can grab it if he needs too. I crawl between his legs and sit on my knees "I'm sorry for checking out. I shouldn't have done that."

Daryl shakes his head "You're allowed to be vulnerable. It's the first time I ever have seen you so vulnerable since Lori died"

I nod "Back then I had things to do that distracted me from everything, this time I only have my thoughts and I fell further and further into them until I had nothing but them." I look around "I don't even know where we are, when we switched cars, where Rick, Glenn, Nessa, Tyreese and Noah are. I haven't even asked how you are. My selfishness went into overdrive"

Daryl pulls me into a hug "Even catatonic, you went around and comforted everyone, saw to their needs before yours, it was like you were on autopilot. You comforted Maggie for two days straight, didn't cry once. She never left your side and you never left hers. I don' even know if you can be selfish"

I hold him tightly "What about you? You need me"

He nods "Yeah, I have you"

"You and Beth were close" I say to him

He nods "I'm sorry" I say and he nods again. I feel a wetness on my shoulder but don't move.

Hours we sat there, in silence. Blocking out everything around us, apart from each other "Carol" I hear coming through the radio.

"We're here" Carol replies

"We made it, It's gone" Rick says.

I sigh and stand and head over to Carol. She looks surprised but hands over the radio. "Just come back Rick, we'll work something out"

"Gwen? Yeah, we will" Rick replies "We're just gonna hunt for some supplies"

"Welcome back" Carol says with a smile.

It was short lived, not long after the radio went silent, the static sounds and Rick's voice sounds weak "Gwen, it's Tyreese. He was bit, now he's gone"

I look over at Sasha, she heard the whole thing. She falls to the ground in silent tears. "Gwen?" Rick's voice comes through again.

"Sorry, I heard. We heard" I reply.

They come back, Sasha is raw from crying. Daryl had already dug a grave. I can't remember him doing it. I feel myself falling again but I force myself to hold on. Gabriel reads a passage from his pocket bible as we each take turns in throwing dirt over Tyreese's sheet covered body. Sasha is last. Rick finishes burying Tyreese.

Back at the cars Rick tells me we're heading to DC. "Our cars won't last all the way to DC" I tell him

He nods "I know, but we're gonna try"

"Okay" I reply.


	19. Hopeless And Defeated

Our food and water don't last. What we had is gone. We split into teams to go off in search of water or food, preferably both. I go with Nessa and Andy. I wanted to go with Daryl but he wouldn't let me. Despite our talk, he's distancing himself from me and I don't know why. We all return empty handed. Miserable, hungry and dehydrated we bundle back into the one little van we have. I drive.

We get another 30 miles tops when the van slows to a stop. The petrol light has been on for the last 10 miles, now we're tapped. "Damn it" I mutter and hit the steering wheel.

"We're out, just like the other one" Abraham says

"Then we walk" Rick says

We climb out the car and start walking. There is a herd of walkers coming up behind us "We're not at our strongest." Rick says walking between Daryl and I "We'll get 'em when it's best. High ground, something like that. They're not going anywhere." Rick looks at Daryl and says "It's been three weeks since Atlanta. I know you lost something back there."

I look at Daryl who says "She's hungry." As Judith starts fussing

"She's okay. She's going to be okay." Rick replies

"We need to find water, food." Daryl says

"We'll hit something in the road. It's gonna rain sooner or later." Rick tells him

"I'm gonna head out. See what I can find." Daryl says handing Rick his riffle

"Hey, don't be too long." Rick says

"I'll go with you." Carol says

"I got it." Daryl replies

"You gonna stop me?" Carol says

"I'll come too" I say heading towards them

"No!" Daryl snaps. I jump at his attitude. He lets out an annoyed breath "Just… stay here"

I nod and fall back. "Gwen. Come on" Nessa says. She and Andy were walking behind Rick, Daryl and I she saw and heard everything.

"What was that?" I say looking off into the woods

"That's Daryl" Nessa replies

I shake my head "Not with me it isn't. He's been like this since Tyreese"

I look over at Andy "Andy has barely spoken since Atlanta"

Andy looks at me "I'm fine"

I shake my head "No, you're not. None of us are"

"This heat is hell" Andy mutters

I nod "Yeah, I would kill for some Scottish weather"

"We should go back" Andy says

Nessa and I both look at our nephew confused "Excuse me?" Nessa asks

"We made it this far right?" Andy says

"Andy, Scotland is thousands of miles away, on its own damn island" I say gently

"We get a boat" Andy says

"A boat?" Nessa scoffs "We're not leaving, Andy"

"Why not!" Andy snaps loudly, "We could all get out of here, together! We can navigate Scotland, it's the perfect place to be. An island, plenty of fresh water, plenty of fucking animals too. Strongholds"

"Can you run a boat? I can't! Would you even know the first thing about navigating? What if we sink? Row boat it? Get a grip Andy" Nessa snaps

"Right, enough. Both of you." I say firmly. "We're all thirsty, hungry and exposed. Getting agitated won't do any of us any favours"

I see a bridge in front of us and jog up to Rick "We can take those walkers out here"

Rick nods "Yeah, good idea"

"Carl, you head to the end of the bridge with Judith, take Gabriel, Noah and Eugene too and Rosita, just in case" I say to Carl. He nods.

Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Andy and I take one side, Maggie, Sasha, Abraham and Nessa take the other. The walkers were easy to take out, it was simply a case of stepping aside and letting them fall into the ditch behind us. That is until Sasha decides to take thing into her own hands.

"Stay in line" Rick says

Sasha is erratic. I'm too weak for this but I push forward. A walker gets a grip on me and its mouth is so close to my arm. Daryl comes out the woods and pulls the walker off of me and kills it. Michonne kills the last walker.

I look at Daryl and smile "Thanks"

Daryl ignores me. I feel anger flooding through my body and I walk away from him. Asshole!

"Dad, look." Carl says after a while.

I look up and see a couple of cars ahead

"I'm gonna head into the woods, circle back." Daryl says

"May I come with?" Carol asks

"No. No, just me." He says. Fine, douchebag!

I watch in concern as Maggie walks passed me to the car furthest away. I head straight for the first. I get in and try the engine. Nothing. I didn't expect in to work. I sigh and climb over the seats into the back and check under the chairs for anything. My hand comes in contact with plastic and I get excited. I pull out an empty bottle. I throw the bottle against the windscreen and cover my face with my hands. Abraham's head pops into the car.

"You alright there princess?" He asks

I nod "fine" I climb out of the car and head for the boot.

I pop it open and Abraham come to my side "You sure? You and Daryl don't seem as loved up as you used to"

"No offence Abraham, but that's none of your damn business" I tell him

"Hey, princess, we're all in this together right?" He says.

I look up at him from the empty boot "My marriage has nothing to do with anyone but me and Daryl."

"Didn't know you two were married" Abraham says.

I nod "Yeah, almost a year now"

"He looks like he's going through some stuff. You seem like the type of girl that's persistent. Maybe he's waiting for ya?" Abraham says and walks away.

I look after him. That ginger prick is more perceptive than he looks. "Anything?" Andy asks

"Nothing, you?" I ask

He shakes his head "Nothing"

"Great" I mutter and head off to the group.


	20. Rain

We congregate on the side of the road and wait for Daryl to come back. We all jump when he does come back.

"So all we found was booze?" Tara asks

"Yeah." Rosita replies

"It's not gonna help." Tara says

"He knows that." Rosita says

"It's gonna make it worse." Tara says

"Yes, it is." Rosita says

"He's a grown man." Eugene says "And I truly do not know if things can get worse."

"They can." Rosita says.

Almost on que there is a rustling in the trees and four rough looking dogs come out of the trees. I move to my feet slowly with fear and adrenaline pumping through my system. The whole group moves slowly and purposefully. The dogs bark viciously. They're hungry, they're going to try and attack us. I jump as a bullet goes through one of the dogs skulls. I look around at Sasha who takes down all the dogs.

We all just stop and stare a moment until Nessa says "Um, I hate to be that girl but…waste not want not?"

Rick and I look at each other and I shrug "Fuck it"

Rick sets up a fire while Daryl skins and guts the dogs. Maggie, Nessa and Carol chop up the meat and cook it on the spit. I look at the name tag that has been discarded on the ground and I feel a little upset. Sorry dog.

I take my first bite of the dog meat and look at my sister and Nephew "You know, it's not bad, kinda tastes like those haggis things mum used to make" I say and take another bite.

Nessa bites into hers and nods "Yeah, it does"

Back on the road I walk beside Maggie and Glenn "Maggie, take a drink." Glenn says

"No." Maggie replies

"Okay. How about you just talk to me?" Glenn says

"I never thought she was alive. I just didn't. After Daddy, I don't know if I couldn't. And after what Daryl said, I hoped she was out there, alive. And then finding out that she was and then she wasn't in the same day... Seeing her like that, it- made it feel like none of it was ever really there. Before... this was just the dark part and... I don't know if I want to fight it anymore." Maggie says, sounding hopeless.

"You do. You do. That's who you are. And maybe it's a curse nowadays, but I don't think so. We fought to be here. And we have to keep fighting." Glenn says "Drink."

She takes the water and takes a drink. Glenn hands the water to me "Gwen"

I take the smallest sip in the universe, it was heaven though my body craved more. I hand the bottle back and Glenn offers it to Daryl.

"Daryl"

"I'm alright, give it to Gwen" Daryl says

"Daryl" Glenn urges.

"Give it to Gwen" Daryl says firmly.

"Hey, we can make it together. But we can only make it together." Glenn says

After a moment I hear Daryl say "Tell them I went looking for water." I watch as he disappears into the trees.

Abraham looks at me with a raised eyebrow "Fucks sake" I mutter and go after Daryl.

I follow Daryl from a distance. He stops near a barn and sits on the ground against a tree. I watch from behind a tree as he digs into his pocket and pulls out a bunch of broken cigarettes and his lighter. He lights an unbroken one and just sits there. I don't know if I should just leave or not. I decide to stay. He pulls the cigarette out of his hand and stares at it before putting it out on his hand. That's when I react. I throw myself out from behind the tree and smack the cigarette out of his hand.

"Don't do that!" I snap.

"Gwen?" Daryl says in surprise.

I throw my arms around his neck and hold him. He hugs me tightly and sobs loudly. I stroke his hair gently, holding him tight. "If you need to feel something, I'm right here" I tell him. "Don't hurt yourself, please"

I start crying loudly "I love you Daryl. I love you"

"I love you too" Daryl sobs.

I pull away and look at Daryl "Why have you been distancing yourself from me?"

"After Beth, then Tyreese. I couldn't handle loosing you too" Daryl says

I kiss him gently "Daryl, that is exactly why you shouldn't separate yourself from me, don't you think we've been through enough? We need each other. I need you."

Daryl nods "I need you. I love you. I'm sorry"

"Thank God, I thought you hated me" I tell him "For checking out on you like I did"

Daryl shakes his head "I could never hate you."

I take a deep breath and look up "I smell rain"

"You smell rain?" Daryl asks with a smirk.

I stand "I'm from Scotland, it rains 256 days out of the year, I know when it's gonna rain"

Daryl stands with me. "Let's go back" He says

I nod with a smile "Yeah" I head back the way I came and Daryl grabs my hand and pulls me back into his chest "Kiss me first"

I giggle and lean up. He closes the gap. This kiss was hungry and passionate. It's been a long time since we've kissed. Daryl spins me around and presses me against the tree. Blocking me out from the world with his arms. I run my hands up his arms to his face and hold his face between my hands. I pull away from him to catch my breath. He follows my lips, trying to catch them again.

I laugh breathlessly and push him back "Come on, before they send out a search party or Nessa flips her lid. Andy and her are so close to ripping each other's throats out"

Daryl smiles and steps back. He holds his hand out to me "C'mon, Mrs Dixon"

I grin and take his hand "Okay, Mr Dixon"


	21. We Ain't Dead

We head back to the group. Daryl leads the way, holding my hand tightly. I stop for a moment and turn. Daryl looks at me confused "What's wrong?"

I shake my head "I thought I heard something… must have imagined it. Fucking sun, messing with my head"

Daryl smirks and pulls at my hand "C'mon"

When we arrive back at the group, they are all standing in a circle around something and Rick comes towards us with a piece of paper in his hand and hands it to us. Daryl lets go of my hand and takes it. It reads 'From a friend'. Daryl has his cross bow off his back in a millisecond.

"What's from a friend?" I ask and walk around Rick.

I see the bottles of water and freeze. "Oh…"

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asks

"Not this. We don't know who left it." Rick says

"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it. But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend." Eugene says

"We're not risking it" I say firmly.

"Yeah, what if they put something in it?" Carol says

Eugene dives forward and grabs one of the bottles "Eugene." Rosita snaps

"What are you doing, dude?" Tara asks

"Quality assurance." Eugene says raising the bottle to his lips. Abraham knocks it out of his hand

"We can't." Rick snaps

"Besides it's gonna rain anyway" I say looking up at the sky

"How do you know that?" Rosita asks curiously.

"She's right, I can smell it" Nessa says lifting her head to the sky.

"Smell?" Rick asks, he doesn't believe us.

Thunder rolls and a drop of water hits the corner of my mouth. I lick it and grin "See? Don't argue with a Scot about rain"

I open my mouth as the water falls heavily. The group are laughing and Rosita and Tara lie on the ground. I've never been happier to see rain, to feel wet, to have my hair plastered to my face. I look over at Maggie then Sasha, even Daryl. All three of them are the only unhappy people. I walk over to Maggie and brush her hair out of her eyes.

"This is a sign" I tell her.

"Of what?" She asks quietly.

"It's not hopeless" I tell her and she looks at me shocked and actually breaks into a little smile.

"Everybody get the bags. Anything you can find." Rick shouts.

I pull out my water bottle and take Daryl's too and let them fill up. Daryl looks at me in surprise. Why? I don't know. I feel both bottles getting heavier and that's when the thunder claps louder and more ominous. Judith starts screaming. The clouds in the distance don't look good.

"Uh, guys. We gotta go!" I call over the rain and thunder

"Let's keep moving." Rick calls

"There's a barn." Daryl shouts

"Where?" Rick asks.

Daryl leads us back through the woods to the barn that we were close too earlier. Most of us wait outside as the others go in and check the place out. Carol comes out and tells us to get in. First thing I do is start a fire though I can only get a tiny one.

"Daryl, this isn't working" I say.

He comes over and tries to help me. Rick, Nessa, Andy, Glenn, Michonne and Carol join us. As the sun sets, Carl and Judith get some sleep. Maggie distances herself again as does Sasha and Abraham. Tara, Noah, Eugene and Rosita are close by but passed out.

"He's gonna be okay." Carol says when she spots Rick looking at his kids "He bounces back more than any of us do."

"I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now. In this. But I think I got it wrong. Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them." Rick says and I frown

"This isn't the world. This isn't it." Michonne says, speaking my mind

"It might be. It might." Glenn replies

"That's giving up." Michonne says

"It's reality." Glenn replies

"Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with." Rick says then after a moment he says "When I was a kid... I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so... so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, "Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war." And then after a few years of pretending he was dead... he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves... that we are the walking dead."

"We ain't dead" Daryl says and starts breaking twigs again. I smile a little.

"We're not them." Rick says to Daryl "Hey. We're not."

Daryl stands suddenly "We ain't dead" He says again and walks off, grabbing his crossbow on the way.

I don't sleep that night. I sit, leaning against a beam near Maggie and Glenn and watch Daryl pace in front of the barn doors. I worry about him. I know I won't get him out his rut that easily but I will keep trying because that's what we do, we try.

Suddenly, Daryl throws himself against the door and presses his body against it firmly. I throw myself to my feet and run over to help him. I hear the growls on the other side of the door.

"Oh shit" I mutter and throw my whole weight against the door.

Even with me and Daryl, it's not enough. Maggie comes over and throws her weight against the door. Then Sasha. Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Carol, Nessa and Andy all come over next. We're fighting for our lives. Abraham, Noah and Rosita come over next. Then Tara, Gabriel and Eugene. Carl, after putting Judith down, comes over last. It's a mission. Our feet are slipping the storm noises are loud. The growling louder. The wind picks up. Thunder roars, Lightening lights up the barn for brief seconds. The storm rages louder and louder until nothing. The resistance against the door disappears and we all collapse. The wind is still whistling but the thunder is rolling away, the lightening passes, the growling has stopped.

I look between the first responders and smile. Those who had the least hope were the first to react. That's good. Everyone looks between each other and fall backwards into the barn. Each taking a place on the ground, close to the door and passing out from extreme exhaustion. I look at Daryl with sad eyes as he stands and grabs his crossbow. I'm shocked when he holds his hand out to me. I take it without hesitation or question and he leads me to the back of the barn and sits, placing his crossbow to the side of him. He pats the ground in between his legs silently. I smile and drop between his legs with my back to him. He wraps his arms around my waist and I use the space between his arm and his chest as a pillow. I only meant to close my eyes to savour the moment but instead I fall into a light but rather peaceful sleep. Safe.

I wake up when I feel soft fingers brush my hair behind my ear "She looks so young when she sleeps" Maggie says quietly

"Yeah, she does" Daryl replies

"You should get some sleep." She says

"Yeah." Daryl says

"It's okay to rest now." Maggie says

"He was tough." Daryl says

"He was." Maggie replies

"So was she." Daryl says "She didn't know it, but she was."

I hear Maggie breath out a little laugh. Daryl moves slowly. "The gearbox had some grit in it." He says

"Thank you." Maggie says

I hear her move but she stops suddenly "She needs to be looked after too"

Daryl grip tightens around me "I know"

"She won't admit it, not even to herself" Maggie says

"I know" Daryl says again. He sounds patient, calm.

Maggie's fingers stroke my cheek "I think we need to appreciate her more."

"Yeah, we do" Daryl replies

I almost smile. These two. I love them so much. I love my whole family. When are they going to learn I will do anything for them? Daryl moves suddenly and I'm on my side. I twitch and Daryl shushes me. "Go back to sleep" He mutters.

I nod and turn in his grip, burying my face into his chest, wrapping my fingers in his shirt. He lets me use his arm as a pillow and his other cradles my head. I slip back off again.


	22. Stranger Danger

I wake up to Daryl nudging my arm and saying my name. I sit up straight and look around "What happened?" I ask blearily and out of habit.

"Nothin' happened. We're gearing up" Daryl says gently.

I blink a few times and bring myself back to reality "Right, yeah. Sorry"

Daryl chuckles a little at me and helps me to my feet. Maggie and Sasha are gone. I think I heard them go out this morning. They'll be back. Daryl decides to fix or play or whatever he does with his crossbow. I head over to Rick and lean down and pick up Judith. Rick just smiles up at me. He never lets anyone just take Judith other than me or Carl. No one else would dare but, as bad as this sounds, Judith feels like my daughter. I love her like she is my daughter and I love Carl like he was my Son. To an outsider looking in we are one really weird dysfunctional family unit. The only thing I can give her is some water and that's what I do and play with her for a bit.

"Hey, everyone" I hear Maggie say from the door "This is Aaron"

I automatically stand and hold Judith tightly to my chest as the others grab their weapons. The man is extraordinarily clean, his clothes, his skin, his hair. He looks well fed. Daryl heads outside and looks around before coming back in and pats the guy down.

"We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear" Maggie says

"Hi" Aaron says.

I don't know if it was the strange voice or the tension in the group but Judith starts crying. I hush her and bounce her gently. She buries her face into the crook of my neck and settles. Rick moves to my side and stands there rigidly and protectively.

"It's nice to meet you" Aaron says and tries to move towards us. Everyone one zones in on him threateningly.

He stops moving instantly "You said he had a weapon?" Rick asks Maggie.

She brings over a small six shooter and hands it to Rick. Rick looks at it amused before taking out the bullets and sticking the gun into the back of his jeans

"There's something you need?" Rick asks him

"He has a camp, nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Sasha says

I raise an eyebrow "Audition? Where do you live? The Big Brother house?"

Aaron looks at me, almost wanting to laugh but not daring too and the serious look on my face "I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." He laughs nervously "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." Rick and I exchange a look of distrust. Aaron picks up on it "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick and Gwen my pack?"

Sasha looks over at Rick and I and I nod. She comes over and takes the brown rucksack off her back and hands it to Rick.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope." Aaron says.

Rick kneels down and opens the bag. I beckon Carl over and hand Judith to him carefully. Rick takes out the envelope and hands it to me as Aaron talks "There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those."

I open the envelope that has a bunch of black and white photographs in it. Rick stands and looks at them over my shoulder. The quality is awful "I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last..."

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl snaps

"You're absolutely 100% right." Aaron says looking scared. The first picture is of a fence, huge and reinforced "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people. Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger."

Rick suddenly moves forward "The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc..." Rick punches Aaron in the face, knocking him out.


	23. Differences in Opinion

I sigh "Why'd you do that?" I ask

"We don't know who he is" Rick says

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look. It was a "he seems like an okay guy to me" look." Michonne says

"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is." Rick says

"Rick." I say impatiently

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are." Rick says

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've" Maggie states.

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asks, ignoring Maggie.

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn replies

"All right, keep looking." He heads over to Carl and I follow him "What did you find?"

"Never seen a gun like that before." Carl says handing over the orange, large barrelled gun.

"It's a flare gun" I tell him.

Rick hold up the flare gun "See?"

"See what?" I ask following him back into the main part of the barn "All I see if a flare gun that he might use if he was in trouble."

"Or to alert his friends to our location" Rick says.

"Look at him" I say pointing to the guy who Maggie is looking after "He looks like a fucking accountant not a fucking ninja spy"

Aaron groans "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick."

"Sit him up." Rick demands

"I think it's better if..." Maggie starts

"It's okay." Aaron says

"He's fine, sit him up" Rick says impatiently

Aaron groans as he is sat up "You're being cautious. I completely understand."

"How many of your people are out there? You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?" Rick asks

Aaron sighs "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes, it does." Rick says

"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say... eight, 32, 444, zero... No matter what I say, you're not going to trust me." Aaron says

I play with my earring and turn my head towards Rick's ear "He's kinda got a point there" I whisper

Rick smirks "Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" Aaron asks

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asks demandingly

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world." Aaron says. Michonne and I look at each other and we both agree at what the man at her feet is telling us. We all used to believe that.

"How many others are out there?" Rick asks

"One." Aaron replies and Rick shakes his head slightly "I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real? What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

"I'm not sure how the 18 of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in." Rick says suspiciously

"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us." Aaron says

"And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Carol asks from my right

"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16. We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it." Aaron says

"Yeah, you've really thought this through." Rick says

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here. You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me." Aaron says pleadingly.

I search his face for any hint of deceit, falsity, evil… I see none.

"I'll check out the cars." Michonne says

"There aren't any cars." Rick snaps

"There's only one way to find out." Michonne replies calmly

"We don't need to find out." Rick says testily

"We do. You know what you know and you're sure of it, but I'm not." Michonne says

"Neither am I" I tell him

"Me neither." Maggie says

"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't." Rick says

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do." Michonne says

I nod in agreement "She's right and there is a part of you that knows she is"

"Then I will, too. I'll go." Glenn says

"Abraham." Rick says

"Yeah. I'll walk with them." Abraham says coming over

"Rosita?" Rick says

Rosita nods "Okay."

"If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?" Rick asks Glenn

"We got what we got." Glenn says

"The walkies are out of juice. If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want." Rick says to Michonne who looks at me. I nod telling her to just go along with it. She nods back and leaves

"If we're all in here, we're a target." Rick calls out to the rest of the group

"I've got the area covered." Daryl says and indicates for people to follow him

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot. Gwen, you say here with me" Rick calls as the group leave the barn.

Nessa looks at me on the way out and I nod. She looks at Rick briefly before following Andy out the door. Carl hands Judith off to me before heading out the door. Rick closes it behind Carl, leaving Rick, Judith and I alone with Aaron.


	24. Good People

"When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO. Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed guns in my face every other week. You're not bad people. You're not going to kill us. And we are definitely not going to kill you." Aaron says

"Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you. If the five of them aren't back in an hour... I'll put a knife in the base of your skull." Rick says before stepping away from the barn door.

Aaron looks at me and I shake my head "Rick. You know as well as I do that there is a lot of contributing factors to a delay."

"Well he better hope there isn't any" Rick says.

Aaron looks at me again "Gwen? Is that short for something?"

"Guinevere" I tell him.

"That's a nice name" He says.

I raise an eyebrow at him "Um, cheers"

"That accent? It's Scottish right?" He asks

I nod "Yeah, good ear"

"It's pretty distinctive" He replies with a smile.

Judith starts screaming. I bounce her. Rick starts mashing up acorns in a bowl as I try and soothe Judith. "You did see the jar of applesauce in my bag, right?" Aaron asks

I look at Rick who looks up briefly before continuing what he's doing "This isn't a trick." Aaron says "This isn't about trying to make you like me. It's self-preservation. Because if the roamers hear her and come this way, I know I'll be the first to go."

Judith screaming gets louder "Rick just give me the applesauce" I say sharply.

Rick brings the jar over to me with a spoon in his hand. He opens it and takes out a spoonful of the food and instead of giving it to Judith he turns to Aaron and holds out the spoon.

"You think I'm trying to poison your baby daughter?" Aaron asks shocked "I'm tied up and you've already expressed a willingness to stab me in the head. How would cruelly killing your daughter in front of you in any way help the situation?"

"Maybe she doesn't die. Maybe she gets sick. Maybe you're the only one that can help her and I just lose." Rick says

"Rick!" I snap

"I am the only one who can help her because I have applesauce and we all win." Aaron says. Rick shoves the spoon in his face "I hate applesauce. My mom used to make me eat foods I didn't like to make me more manly. Salmon patties, applesauce, and onions. She was a very confused woman who tried her damnedest. I just bring the jar to show that we have apple trees nearby."

"Like you said, you'll be the first to go." Rick says

Aaron scrunches up his face and takes a bite. The look on his face is disgust not fear. Rick tries in next. Rick hands me the spoon with a nod. I smile and sit on the ground cross-legged with Judith and scoops the applesauce onto the spoon and take the first bite with a grin at her.

"Check it's not poisoned" I say gently and she laughs.

I smile and take another scoop and hold it out to her. I've never seen a baby move so fast in my life. "Hungry girl" I coo and repeat what I did.

"The community is big enough. We can find a place for you to live where even when she cries, no one, nothing can hear it outside the walls." Aaron says to me. I look at Judith who is looking up at me with her mouth open

"You got 43 minutes" Rick says

I look at Aaron and smile before going back and feeding Judith. After a few minutes of silence, apart from Judith's eating Aaron says "She looks like you"

I look up and he's looking at me. I smirk "Well that's a feat considering she's not mine"

Aaron looks shocked before looking between Rick and I "I thought, the boy and the baby were yours. You seemed so close to both of them and Rick but to be fair I also saw you with the scary guy with the crossbow, Daryl."

Rick and I look at each other and not even Rick can resist the amusement that flicks across his face at Aaron's flustered state. "If Carl was mine, I would have had him when I was 13" I tell Aaron.

Aaron looks confused "How old are you?"

"26 or 27, I'm not really sure anymore" I tell him.

Aaron smiles "You act a lot older"

I nod "I know. Rick and I are just friends. We lead the group together as well so people tend to make the assumption we're together. I'm actually married to the scary guy with the crossbow" I say with a smirk

Aaron nods "Oh, I see. It's actually quite simple when you put it like that and Andy and Nessa?"

"My sister and nephew" I think a moment "How do you know our names?" I ask

"Like I said, I've been watching you for a while." Aaron replies.

The barn door opens and Rick stands in front of Judith and I with his gun up. Maggie and Michonne walk in. "He was telling the truth" Michonne says.

Abraham, Rosita and Glenn come in moments later with arms full of food "Wow" I mutter. "Rosita, doll. Could you call the others in?" I ask

She nods with a smirk at the nickname "No problem"

I stand and head over to the table with all the food on it "Look, Judy. Yummy" The group come back. Daryl comes up to my side and puts his hand on my hip and looks at the cans.

Nessa appears at my other side "Jackpot" she mutters.

"This, this is ours now." Rick says to Aaron as Daryl leads me to sit down.

"There's more than enough." Aaron says

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp." Rick says and I frown

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't we go?" Carl says

"We are going" I tell him

"If he were lying or if he wanted to hurt us... but he isn't, and he doesn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently." Michonne says

"I don't know, man." Daryl says from beside me "This barn smells like horse shit." I can contain the snort of laughter that escapes me

"Yeah. We're going." Rick says and Michonne, Maggie and I smile a little at each other

"So where are we going? Where's your camp?" Rick asks Aaron

"Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet." Aaron says

"You're not driving. So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how." Michonne says

I look over at Aaron and say "Mate, seriously, life will be so much simpler if you just go along with what we say"

Aaron sighs "Go north on Route 16."

"And then?" Michonne asks

"I'll tell you when we get there." Aaron says

"We'll take 23 north. You'll give us directions from there." Rick says firmly

"That's... I don't know how else to say it... That's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster." Aaron says

"We'll take 23. We leave at sundown." Rick says and I frown

"We're doing this at night?" Sasha asks

"Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there." Rick says

"No one is going to hurt you. You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger." Aaron says

"Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." Rick says to him. When he gets no answer he nods his head "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can." Rick heads for the barn door. Michonne follows him.

I stand and hand Judith to Carl "You heard the man guys, eat, drink, rest"


	25. Route 23

Nessa and Maggie cook some stuff up and after I eat, I take some over to Aaron, ignoring the looks of disapproval from Rick. "You hungry?" I ask Aaron.

"Um, yes, thank you" He says.

I kneel down in front of him "I can't untie you, so it's gonna be baby style I'm afraid. I've got some water for you too"

He smiles at me "Thank you"

I return the smile "No problem"

I feed Aaron carefully. He doesn't take his eyes off me the entire time. Then I give him some water to wash it down with. "Thank you, again, Guinevere"

"You can just call me Gwen." I tell him

He nods "Well, thank you, Gwen"

"You can stop thanking me. I'm hardly Samaritan of the year, I'm just feeding a guy who we've knocked out and tied up" I tell him

"Yeah, but you cared enough to feed someone you don't trust" He says

"It's just food" I say to him and stand

"You don't really believe that" He tells me

I look at him briefly them walk back to my group "Gwen, you're coming with Michonne, Glenn and I in the smaller car with that guy" Rick says

"His name is Aaron" I tell him.

Rick frowns "Right"

After sunset Rick and Glenn take Aaron out to the car. Daryl stops me before I head to the car myself. He kisses me briefly "Be careful" He tells me

I nod "You too"

I climb into the front passenger seat beside Rick and Glenn, and Michonne gets in the back beside Aaron. Glenn drives. As we drive onto route 23 Rick opens the glove box and reveals a whole stack of licence plates… why on earth has he got those?

"I'm trying to collect all 50 states. Put them all on a wall in my house." Aaron says

"You have your own house?" Michonne asks

"Mm. See for yourself." Aaron says. I hear rustling and I'm assuming Michonne is looking at the pictures

"Why don't you have any pictures of your people?" She asks

"Oh, I took a picture of the whole group, but I didn't get the exposure right. When I tried to develop it later, it just..." Aaron says

"Did you ask him the questions?" Michonne asks suddenly

"No." Rick replies

"How many walkers have you killed?" Michonne asks

"I'm sorry, what?" Aaron asks

"You have your membership audition we have ours" I tell him and look back with a smile

"How many?" Michonne asks

"I don't know. A lot." Aaron replies

"How many people?" Michonne asks

"Two." Aaron replies

"Why?" Michonne asks

"Because they tried to kill me." Aaron replies

Rick pulls out a weird satellite thing from beside him and I look at it confused "What's that?"

"You were listening to us?" Glenn asks

"I already said I was watching you. Yes, I was listening." Aaron says

"It means his people could have one, too. They could've heard our plan." Rick says in a panic "This isn't safe."

"shit!" Glenn shouts as we plummet into a herd of walkers.

Blood coats the windscreen, blocking out the road, we can't see for shit. Glenn keeps going.

"Glenn!" Rick yells

"They were right behind us. They would have hit us. Now they can get out." Glenn says

Walker after water splatters onto the car until Glenn skids to a stop. Glenn and Rick jump out "I don't see them." Rick says

"No, they're gone. They got away." Glenn replies and I sigh in relief

"All right, we'll circle back and find them. Let's go." Rick says and climbs back into the car.

"They're okay?" Aaron asks worriedly

"Yeah." Michonne replies.

Glenn cleans the blood off the windscreen before jumping back in "All right, we can take a left a couple of miles up 23. Jefferson Avenue." Rick says

"Jefferson Avenue." Glenn repeats

"We got to get out of here." Aaron says in a panic

Glenn tries to start the car but it just sputters at us. "Shit" I mutter "The engines blocked up" I tell them

Michonne dives out and tries to clear the body parts out if the car. "They're coming right for us!" Aaron shouts.

"We know!" Rick snaps back

"Hold on." Glenn says and looks up at the sky. I look out and see a flare "shit. Who did that?" Rick asks Aaron

"I need to leave. This is over." Aaron says "Let me out. I need to get outta here. It's over!" He panics

"What's going on?" Rick asks

"Let me out!" Aaron yells

"Did you see that?" Michonne asks coming to the passenger door at the back. Suddenly Aaron kicks open the door and sends Michonne flying. Aaron dives out of the car. I climb out after Rick and see Michonne chasing after him.

"Michonne, leave him!" Rick yells

"We need to find our people. They saw that flare. They'll think we shot it. This is how we find them." Michonne shouts back

"Rick, come on!" I say and pull out my knife before following Michonne.

We run through the woods until we are suddenly surrounded. We take as many as we can down with our guns. "Where's Glenn!" Rick yells

I look around "He was right behind me!" I yell back.

My gun runs out of bullets "Fuck! I'm out" I tell Rick and Michonne.

"Me too!" Rick shouts and takes a walker down with a flare.

"We need to find Glenn!" Rick calls

Seconds later the walkers advancing on us are taken down from behind. They fall revealing Glenn and Aaron. I sigh in relief.

"If you really want to tie me up again, that's fine, but hurry up." Aaron says and puts the gun down

Rick leans down and picks it up "No time. We're going that way" He says and runs off.

I follow closely until we end up on route 16 "Where are they?" Rick asks Aaron angrily

"I don't know." Aaron replies

"If this is a trap to get us back where you want us, your people are going to die tonight." Rick snaps and walks away "The flare was towards the water tower."


	26. Alexandria

We head to the water tower in the distance. As we approach, I notice the water tower is part of an industrial estate. I hear a whistle and I get excited "That's Daryl!"

Rick whistles back. I see a figure step out into the darkness and whistle again before disappearing then coming back. I take off at a sprint and throw myself into Daryl's arms. He lifts me off the ground as he hugs me.

"Thank God" He mutters against my hair. He pulls away and looks at my face "You okay?"

"Yeah, are you?" I ask

He nods "We're all fine"

Nessa throws herself on me and hugs me "Thank God you're alive, cause I'm gonna kill you for worrying me again!"

Andy hugs me once Nessa lets go. "Eric? Eric!" Aaron yells before running into the supply house thing.

I'm too distracted by pass the Gwen for hugs to follow immediately. When I do the others are right behind me. Daryl comes over to me and holds me against his chest as Aaron comes out of the back room with Rick.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Everyone. Thank you. You saved Eric. I owe you. All of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community. When we get to Alexandria." Aaron says "Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight. Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning."

"That sounds fine. But if we're staying here for the night, you're sleeping over there." Rick says, pointing to the other side of the building

"You really think we got to do that?" Maggie asks

"It's the safe play. We don't know you." Rick says

"The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me." Aaron says firmly

Aaron moves to walk past Rick when Glenn stops him "Whoa. Rick, he told us where the camp is. And he really was only travelling with one other person. They're both unarmed. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe, too. I can't give up everything else. I know what I said, but it does matter." Glenn says

"All right." Rick says.

"Gwen can look at Eric's ankle and wrap it better" Maggie says

Aaron looks at me and I nod. "Yeah, you got any bandages or cloth in that bag of yours?" I ask

He nods "Yeah, come through"

I pat Daryl's chest and follow Aaron. I see Rick look at Daryl behind me and nod. Daryl follows me into the room while the others settle for the night.

The guy on the makeshift bed/chair looks up as Aaron, Daryl and I enter. "Hello, I'm Eric" The guy says cheerfully.

I head over and hold my hand out "I'm Guinevere but you can call me Gwen"

"Nice to meet you." He says and shakes my hand

I nod "Maggie says you broke your ankle" I say to him.

He nods with a laugh "Yeah"

"I'm going to wrap it up a bit better if that's okay with you?" I say

He nods "Of Course"

Aaron hands me the bandage from his bag. I'm vaguely aware of Daryl staying in the shadows and leaning against the wall. I undo the mess of cloth from Eric's ankle slowly and carefully.

"Aaron, could you hold those splints in place please." I hold them straight on either side of Eric's ankle.

Aaron take them and holds them straight "Like this?"

"Yeah, Eric, could you lift your leg a little? If not Daryl can do it" I say.

Eric shakes his head and lifts his leg a little "I can do it"

"Okay" I wrap the bandage firmly around his leg from mid-call all the way down to cover half his foot and that's where I tie it together tightly, triple knot. "You'll have to cut that off when we get back to your community but it'll hold for now"

Eric looks down at his ankle impressed "Wow, you did a good job. Were you a Doctor?"

"No, well yeah, but not a medical one. I was a Forensic Anthropologists. PhD not MD" I reply

"So it's Dr Gwen" Eric says with a grin

I laugh a little "Gwen is fine. Sleep well" I say and stand.

I head over to Daryl and take his hand "Sleep for us too. You barely got any last night"

"I got enough" Daryl replies.

I scoff "Liar" We settle in our own little corner and sleep until sun up.

The next morning we find another car and split ourselves between the car and the RV. Daryl, Rick, Carl, Judith, Michonne and I take the car the other's take the RV. Halfway there the RV breaks down. I laugh suddenly earning me a strange look from the car's occupants.

I shake my head "Déjà vu, Dale's Winnebago breaking down every two minutes"

Rick, Daryl and Carl all laugh a little as we climb out. I head over to the RV and Daryl climbs on top of it as a look-out. Glenn and Abraham join me at the front of the RV. I open it up and have a look inside. Abraham watches me.

"What do you know about RV engines, princess?" Abraham asks

"I know a lot about all engines, Abe" I reply

"Can't win. Might as well paint it red, put a ladder on it." Abraham says hitting the RV

"All we need is another battery." I tell him

"Where in the hell are we gonna find another battery?" Abraham asks

"Right over here." Glenn says and leads him around to the door of the RV, I wait for him to get back.

He does with the spare battery and hands it to me "Do you're thing, Gwen" Glenn says

I laugh and detach the old battery and replace it with the new one "Try it!" I yell up to Abraham.

He starts the RV in one go. Everyone cheers. I laugh and close the grill. I pat Glenn's shoulder and head around to the car.

"Where's Rick?" I ask Michonne. "He's taking a breather, he'll be back soon"

I nod and climb into the car, she's right behind me. When Rick gets back, we take the lead this time all the way to the gates of the community. I stare for a moment then I hear children laughing.

"You hear that?" I ask no one on particular "Kids, laughter"

I climb out the car slowly and stare at the gates, my heart pounding in my chest. I take Andy's hand as he walks past me. He looks down at me and smiles. I smile back as we head to the gate. I let go of his hand as we stop. The gates open and I hold my breath. This is it.


	27. Meeting Deanna

The gates open and Aaron helps Eric through them first before looking back at us. There's a noise by the trash can and Daryl takes down a possum. I laugh a little at the look on the kid's face who opens the gate further.

"We brought dinner." Daryl says

"It's okay. Come on in, guys." Aaron says, beckoning us in. We enter the community slowly and stick closely together

"Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons." The kid says. I feel like scoffing, he taking the piss? We just walk in here and they expect us to hand over our weapons when he's standing there with a rifle on his shoulder?

"Stay, you hand them over." The kid says

"We don't know if we want to stay." Rick says impatiently

"It's fine, Nicholas." Aaron says

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already." Rick says

"Let them talk to Deanna first." Aaron says

"Who's Deanna?" Abraham asks

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?" Aaron says

Rick looks behind him "Sasha"

I look and there is a walker walking towards the gate. Sasha turns, aims and blows the walker's head off. The look on Aaron's and Nicholas's faces is priceless.

"Good thing we're here" Rick says and follows Aaron.

He leads us to someone's house. This place is nice. Solar panels, lush, green courtyards and shit. All very upper-middle class suburbia. Homes that go for over half a million a pop. I have a feeling on my gut that that is exactly how these people see themselves. We mill around in a little garden thing in front of one of the fanciest houses I've seen.

I turn to Nessa and whisper sarcastically "You think we're about to meet the president or the Queen?" She snorts with laughter.

Aaron turns to us "I'm going to tell Deanna you're here and take you in one by one"

Rick is taken into the house first and all we can do is wait really. When Rick comes back he pats my shoulder "You next"

I nod "Alrighty, then"

I follow Aaron into the house and the first thing I do is wonder at the size of the place. I'm lead into a sitting room and Aaron leaves.

"Hello" I look at the woman on the couch

"Nice digs" I tell her with a smile

She laughs "Well, thank you. Take a seat. Would you mind if I recorded our session?"

I shake my head "Nah, go for it"

"Thank you" She presses a button on the camera sits down on the couch while I sit on the chair a little hesitantly.

"I'm Deanna Monroe" She says.

I nod "I'm Guinevere Dixon"

"Where are you from Guinevere?" Deanna asks

"Fife, Scotland" I reply

"What were you doing here?" She asks

"I just became a citizen, my sister and I. We just finished our PhDs when the outbreak happened" I tell her

"Where is your sister, if you don't mind me asking" She says

"Outside as is my nephew" I tell her.

She smiles "You're lucky"

My smile disappears "Yeah, if you say so"

"How old are you Guinevere?" Deanna asks

"26, I think, could be 27" I reply "Call me Gwen"

"Gwen. You're young" She says

I shrug "I guess"

"You're the leader of your group, alongside Rick. Are you together? Is the baby yours?" Deanna asks

"No and no. Judith isn't mine, well, not biologically. Rick's wife past a long time ago… although it probably wasn't that long ago at all. Time is funny out there" I tell her. "I am the co-leader, yes. Daryl is my husband"

She nods "What did you do before this?"

"I was a Forensic Anthropologist" I reply

"You're smart, a leader, and a bit of a medic too I hear. You patched up Eric's leg pretty well" She says with a smirk

I nod "I have my talents"

"A lot of them according to Aaron and Rick" Deanna says

"I'm not that great. I can stich a wound, identify dead people and make decisions hardly a jack of all trades" I tell her.

Deanna grins "I also heard you are a mechanic, an excellent marksman, fast and kind"

"Kind?" I repeat with a laugh "I suppose that kind of sums it up. Before all this people would have called it gullible or naïve"

"Something tells me you are far from naïve or gullible" Deanna says leaning forward.

"Something tells me you are Politician?" I ask

She smiles "Congressperson, Ohio, 15th district"

I nod "My grandmother was an MSP for my constituency, labour, three terms. First female politician in Scotland"

She nods "That will be why you're a good decision maker"

I shrug "I suppose, my grandma used to educate me in politics as a kid. Didn't really care for it much. To many underhanded tricks and telling people what they want to hear. I'm too straight forward for that. I guess that's what I like about this world. No grey area, no red tape"

Deanna nods "What is this place exactly?" I ask

"This is the start of sustainability. That's what the brochures we found say. This was a planned community with its own solar grid, cisterns, eco-based sewage filtration. Starting in the low 800,000s" Deana laughs at that "if there is such a thing"

I smile at her, she seems pretty down to earth. "I thought it would be something like that. Lucky though, finding this place."

She nods "Yes we were"

"The walls? You built them?" I ask

"My husband, Reg, was a professor in architecture. There was a shopping mall being built near by and with help, he built the walls." Deanna explains.

"You've been behind here all this time?" I ask

She nods and I feel a sudden burst of jealousy and pity. I shake my head "You can't have a clue what it's like out there"

Deanna nods "Yes, that's why we need people like you and your group. Who knows what it's like"

I play with my earring "You got to understand that being out there changes a person, it makes you hard, suspicious, anxious. It's like war out there and PTSD is guaranteed. No rules, just survival. Are you prepared to deal with that? Adaption will take a while, maybe longer than you might anticipate."

She nods "I know, I'm aware there will be teething problems, your people won't trust us straight away. I get that"

I nod "Daryl, my husband, he'll be one of the ones to find it the hardest but I will tell you this. He is the most loyal, caring man I have ever met. He put his life on the line for people he didn't even know, he saved my life over and over again with no thought for his own. That's the type of guy he is. His abrasive, surly, rude and intimidating front is just that, a front but, eh, don't tell him I told you that, he'll go in a huff for a week"

Deanna laughs "Then why tell me"

I smile sadly "You would never have understood Daryl if I didn't"

Deanna nods "Anyone else?"

"My sister Nessa, she's a little mean but she doesn't mean anything by it, it's a defence mechanism and Sasha lost her brother and her boyfriend all in the space of a few days very recently so she's a little unstable." I tell her

"Thank you for telling me" Deanna says

"I didn't do it for you. We need this. I need this. I need Judith, Carl and Andy to be safe" I tell her.

"It's the 20th April" Deanna says

I smile "I'm 27. Anything else?"

"No, that's all. Thank you, Dr Dixon"

"Gwen" I tell her.

"Gwen, why don't you send in Daryl?"

I nod and head out. "You're turn, Daryl" I say coming down the stair. I turn to Andy "Hey, Andy."

He looks at me "Happy 20th Birthday" I tell him and his eyes widen

"How do you know that?" Andy asks while he gets humorous congratulations from the group.

"Deanna told me the date and you're old" I say with a grin.

Nessa's laugh fades suddenly "Oh God… I'm 33"


	28. What She Needs

**Daryl's P.O.V.**

Watching Gwen walk in that house made me nervous. The last three weeks I ignored her. I was horrible to her because I was scared of losing her. I know that was the wrong way to go about it but Gwen brought me back, she always does. This community is what Gwen wants and I know it's what she needs but I'm not sure, these people don't know anything.

My body relaxes when Gwen walks out of the house and she smiles at me. Her smile has never quite been the same since we left the prison. It's not as bright or carefree. It's almost forced unless she looks at Judith or me. Right now it's gentle and her eyes have a little spark.

"You're turn, Daryl" She says coming down the stairs

I nod but her eyes have already moved to Andy "Hey, Andy. Happy 20th Birthday"

I slip past everyone while they congratulate my wife's nephew. I walk into the house and look around. It's nice, I guess. I see an older woman staring at me with a small smile. Her eyes flick to the possum in my hand but her facial expression doesn't change.

"Hello, I'm Deanna Monroe" The woman says

"Daryl" I reply, defences going up.

I lean down and pick at the pebble things in a plate on the table, what is this? What is the point? "You're welcome to sit, Daryl. I won't bite." Deanna says to me

I stand and look around the room "Yeah, I'm all right."

"Daryl, do you want to be here?" She asks, I don't know.

"The boy and the baby, they deserve a roof. I guess." I say

"What about you?" Deanna asks

I don't answer her, I just shrug.

"Okay, what about your wife?" She says.

My expression almost falters. I almost asked her how she knows I have a wife but Gwen was just in here. "Yeah, she does too."

"She's lovely, your wife. Being out there doesn't seem to have affected her as much as it has others" Deanna says.

That angers me "You don' no nothin' about my wife or what she's been through"

Deanna smirks "Why don't you tell me about her?"

"She was just in here." I reply, I'm not going to tell her about Gwen, she might be looking for a weakness

"That's an interesting necklace" She says.

I look down and realise that Gwen's necklace is on the outside of my shirt. It must of slipped out when I leaned over. I tuck it back in quickly "It's Gwen's"

"Why do you wear it?" Deanna asks

"She asked me too." I reply

"Too keep a part of her with you" Deanna says with a nod of understanding

I shrug "Yeah"

"Did you marry before or after?" Deanna asks

"After" I reply

"Did you know each other before?"

"Kinda, we met once" I say while looking at a book but not really looking at it.

"You two seem very different" Deanna says

"We are" I tell her

Deanna just stares at me a moment, as if trying to figure me out. "What did you do before this Daryl?"

I shake my head "Doesn' matter. I wasn' anyone special, not like Gwen"

"She doesn't see it that way. She loves you very much" Deanna says

"She told you that?" I ask, Gwen wouldn't go around telling people she just met things like that.

"She didn't have too" Deanna says

I nod, didn't think she would. Not my Gwen. She probably just told this Deanna what she wanted to hear.


	29. Behave Yourself

**Nessa's P.O.V.**

Daryl wasn't in nearly as long as Gwen and Rick were. He looks at me and says "Nessa"

I look towards the door and I can feel my walls go up, I can hear Gwen's voice in my head telling me to behave myself. I can feel her damn eyes burning into the back of my head as I climb the stairs into the house.

I walk in and admire the place. Nice.

"Hello there, I'm Deanna Monroe"

I look at the woman sitting on a couch. I nod at her "Nessa McDade"

"Nessa, would you mind if I recorded this?" She asks

I shrug "What if I said no?"

Deanna smiles "Then I won't"

I smirk "Do whatever you want"

"Thank you. Please sit down"

I nod "Cheers"

I sit on the armchair and sit back and pretend to be more comfortable than I am. I do it with an attitude too, reflex.

"You're Guinevere's sister?" Deanna asks

"Why ask a question you know the answer too. How many other Scots are you expecting to see today?" I ask, rather rudely.

Deanna simply smiles "One more, your son?"

"Nephew" I say quickly.

"So there's a third McDade sister or brother?" She asks

"Probably not anymore" I say harshly.

Deanna doesn't look even a little fazed. Gwen warned her about me. I'm actually a little glad about that.

"What did you do before?" She asks

"I was an Archaeologists, PhD" I tell her.

She smiles "You are intelligent"

I nod "Yes, I am"

"You're not as modest as your sister" Deanna says

I shrug "Never seen the point in false modesty myself."

Deanna smirks "How are you with teaching?"

I nod "I'm pretty bloody good."

She nods "How would you like to be a teacher within Alexandria?"

"You want some random around your community's kids?" I ask with a raised eyebrow

"Yes, and it can become our community." She says, I almost smiled at that. Somewhere the kids can grow up, safe. Andy can realize his potential.

I sniff and sit on the edge of my seat "Sounds alright to me."

"Good, Welcome to Alexandria" Deanna says "Why don't you send in someone else in now, Nessa"

"Sure" I head for the door but something made me stop and turn "Here, eh, Thanks for this. I, I mean, my sister and the kids need this"

Deanna smiles and nods. I practically run out the door.


	30. Almost Human

**Gwen's P.O.V**

After everyone has been interviewed by Deanna we're all a little more willing to give up our guns. Deanna lets Daryl keep his crossbow which is good because it would have been one hell of a fight to get that off of him, honestly you'd have better luck taking me off him. A woman who has clearly never starved once or felt the horrors of outside comes with a tray. We pile it up with guns.

"They're still your guns." Deanna calls down from the steps of her house "You can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety."

I watch Carol in confusion when she seems to have trouble getting the strap of her rifle off her shoulder. Daryl and I exchange a confused look. Carol puts the rifle on the tray and smiles at the woman kindly who smiles in return, patronizingly.

"Should have brought another bin." She says as she leaves.

"Aaron will show you to where you are living" Deanna says

Aaron nods and leads the way. We stops in front of two very big houses "Both of 'em?" Rick asks

"At your disposal." Aaron says "I'd call dibs on that one." He says pointing to the one on our left "It's got more curb appeal." Both Rick and I look at him like he's mad. Curb appeal? Does he really think we give a crap about curb appeal?

Aaron coughs "Listen, I know you're still feeling us out, but I'm glad you came. Anyway, Deanna's asked everyone to give you your space so they aren't all coming at you at once. Take your time. Explore. You need anything, you call me. I don't- we don't have phones. I- I meant... I'm four houses down. Thank you. So..."

I smile "Thanks Aaron. We'll, eh, shout you if we need you"

Aaron nods and walks away and Rick leans over to me and says "Are you gonna call him if you need anythin'?"

I shake my head "Probably not. Let's stick together tonight, same room. Just for tonight. Then we'll spread out tomorrow. He was right, though. Dibs on the big one" I say and head towards the house.

I hear Carl laugh as he follow me. We all spill into the house and look around briefly. This place has six large bedroom, two with en-suites and two more bathrooms, one upstairs one down. A large kitchen and dining area, a large living room, a utility room and another room which I guess is a den, I would call it a second living room. Why someone would need two living rooms is beyond me. I suppose next door is the same. Aaron says it's also got six bedrooms. The perfect number assuming Abraham and Rosita share a room and Judith will most likely be in beside either Carl or Rick.

I come back to the living room and see there are 18 sets of clean clothes laid out along with clean towels and toiletries. "Dibs on a shower first!" I call and dive for a towel.

The group look at me surprised before laughing, well most of them do. I shrug and look through the clothes for ones that will be big enough to fit my boobs, I'm stuck with a short denim dress that comes with a thin brown belt. It'll do. It's the clean underwear I nearly sing over. I grab some of the toiletries and all but run upstairs. I choose to use one of the en-suite bathroom, that way there is two doors between me and anyone who might try and attack me, I'm paranoid, sue me!

The bathroom is nice but it all comes down to the water. I turn the shower on. The water warms. My mouth drops open, hot water! I strip and climb under and I gasp in pleasure. Oh, God this is beautiful. I'm divorcing Daryl and marrying this shower! I finally get to shave my legs and under my arms and take care of the disaster going on downstairs. Shaving cream, soap…oh God the soap! Shampoo, lovely, lovely shampoo. I can feel my hair become lighter and the conditioner just adds to the lightness. I get out reluctantly. Others have to use the shower and I don't know if the hot water runs out or not. I wrap the towel around me and go to the sink and brush my teeth. I groan in pleasure as I do. I don't know how long I stood there just brushing but my hair was drying by the time I finished.

I head out to the bedroom. My poor bra has seen better days. I look through the drawers in the room and it's almost like there is a God after all. Bras, my size! A busty lady lived here once. I wrap my hair up with the towel and change. My boots have seen better days too. I search the room for shoes. I find a wardrobe full of clothes and a massive shoe rack! I find a pair of knee high brown boots with a 3 inch heel. I smile. I almost feel human again.

I towel dry my hair and look at myself in the full length mirror in the corner of the room. This is the first time I've seen my reflection since the prison. My hair is so long now, down to the bottom of my back. I need it cut, a few inches, back to at least the middle of my back. I wonder if this place has a hairdresser. My face is still white as snow despite the intensity of the sun I've been in. My hair is still pitch black, my face is still smooth and flawless apart from that scar on my temple. I'm a lot skinnier now but Daryl was right, my boob and my ass are still the same size. I smile at myself in a dress. I haven't seen myself in one of these since before all this happened. I nod at myself and head downstairs.


	31. Almost Forgot

Rick is the first person I see and I nearly fall over.

"Holy shit, Rick." I say when I see him, standing topless, beardless. Rick is pretty fine ain't he?

Rick turns quickly and his eyes widen when he sees me "Right back at you" He says with a smile.

"I forgot what you looked like under that beard." I say with a grin.

A knock on the door sends us flying into the air. I turn and see a pretty blonde woman standing there. Rick looks at me before inching towards the door slowly. I follow right behind him.

He looks at me before he opens it and the woman looks between us briefly before saying with a grin "Hey. I work in the pantry. Deanna asked me to bring these over for you and your friends."

Rick takes the basket "Thank you. We're just cleaning up."

"I can see that. You still have some shaving cream on your chin." The woman says and I laugh a little

"I'm Jessie." She says

"Rick and this is Gwen" Rick replies

Jessie nods with a smile "You know, I used to be a stylist. And 12 other things. I could give you a cut if you want."

Rick and I look at each other surprised "You don't even know us." Rick say

"I can take care of myself." Jessie says with a smile.

"Well come on in, Jessie." I say with a smile. I lift a strand of my hair "Would you mind tackling this too, just a little?"

She stares at my hair and grin "Yeah, absolutely. I'll do Rick's first"

She cuts Rick's hair silently for a bit then says "I have two boys, Ron and Sam. Ron's my oldest boy. He's about your son's age. I could introduce them. If that's okay with you and Gwen"

Rick is silent and just looks at me so I explain "Rick and I aren't married or together, I'm married to another member or the group. Carl and Judith aren't my biological children so it's really up to Rick"

Rick smiles at my use of the word biological, yeah, at this point I do see Carl and Judith as my adoptive kids in a way. I have felt like a surrogate mother since the day Lori died.

"No, that'd be- that'd be great." Rick says "Electricity, showers, haircuts- I never thought I'd see those again."

I nod "Me either"

Jessie smiles "Come on. Haircuts were never going away." She jokes. She looks between Rick and I and says "It's okay if you're not okay with this yet." After a moment she hands Rich a mirror "That's better."

I smile "Much better" I agree

"You're turn" She says to me.

Rick hovers as Jessie starts cutting my hair. I have to stand because it's so long. "How short do you want it?" She asks

"Just back up to mid-back" I tell her.

"Good, you have beautiful hair. I rarely get to see hair this pretty and obviously the colour's natural" Jessie says

"Yeah" I reply

"Very Snow White" She jokes.

I flinch quite violently and Jessie pulls the scissors away from my hair and Rick puts his hands on my shoulders to still me and calm me. "You're okay" Rick says "Hey, look at me"

I do "You're okay" He repeats.

I nod "Sorry Jessie. Just, uh, bad memories and stuff"

She pats my shoulder reassuringly when Rick let's go "Its okay. I can't imagine what you went through out there"

I nod and she finishes the cut in silence. When she stands she hands me the mirror "how's that?" She asks

I look at me hair and smile "Much better. Thank you"

She nods "No problem. Just call if you need anything"

"Thanks." I say and she leaves

I look at Rick "I almost feel human again and my head feels to light" I laugh.

He grins "You looks great"

"You too" I reply and head out. Carol is coming down the stairs as I enter the hall and her mouth drops open.

"Wow, Gwen, I almost forgot how great you look clean. I mean you always look good but wow" Her eyes go to Rick and she grins "You too!"

I head outside to where Daryl is gutting the possum on the porch steps. I stand above him and he looks up at me and his mouth literally drops open for a moment before he shuts it again quickly.

I grin "I look that good huh?" I ask and kneel down next to him, avoiding the possum innards. I lean forward until my neck his level with his face "How great do I smell by the way?"

His lips and nose press into my neck "You smell real good" He mutters before pressing a kiss to my neck gently.

"Dad can I look next door?" Carl asks.

"You can look, just be quick" Rick replies

Carl looks at me and grins before running off. Carol follows him. I stand "We should have a look around out here" I say.

Rick nods and Daryl stands too, pretty much just discarding the possum and following Rick and I as we walk around the whole house. Carol meets us as we walk down the middle of the two housed

"They're right next to each other, but" Carol says

"They took our weapons and now they're splitting us up" Rick says

"Yip" Daryl agrees

"Yeah. We'll all be staying in the same house tonight." Rick says nodding at me.

"I think it would be a good idea to stay in the same room. Just for tonight and tomorrow I am taxin' one of those bad boy doubles upstairs and I dare you to stop me" I say with a sort of forced smile.

Rick smirks and nods. I look around briefly before saying "I think playing along is wise for now. We'll figure the rest out once we know what's what with these people"

Rick, Daryl and Carol all nod in agreement.


	32. Heir Apparent

That night we all set ourselves up in our own little corners of the living room. Daryl and I take the wide window seat which I pad out with cushions from the couch in the den and a couple of pillows from upstairs and blankets.

Michonne comes in then smiling from ear to ear with a toothbrush in her hand "How long was I in there for?" She asks

"20 minutes." Rick replies

"God, I could not stop brushing." She says

I laugh "I did the exact same thing"

She looks at me with a grin then back to Rick "Huh. I've never- I've never seen your face like that."

"That's what I felt before and after." Rick replies

"Look... I get why we're playing it safe. We should. I just- I have a good feeling about this place." Michonne says

"Well, I hope you're right." Rick says

"Yeah, me, too." Michonne says

She looks at me and I wink. I agree. A knock at the door make me jump. Knocking is something I'm not used to anymore unless it's followed by growls. The others share my sentiment as they become restless.

Rick opens the door and I see Deanna "Hey, I… Wow" Deanna says shocked.

Rick sighs and Deanna laughs a little "I didn't know what was under there."

She steps in and looks at Rosita and Eugene "Listen, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were all settling. Oh, my. Staying together. Smart."

"No one said we couldn't." Rick says

"You said you're a family. That's what you said. Absolutely amazing to me how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing in common can become that. Don't you think?" Deanna says. Daryl and I look at each other

"Everybody said you gave them jobs." Rick says

"Mm-hmm. Yeah. Part of this place. Looks like the communists won after all." Deanna says with a grin

"Well, you didn't give me one." Rick says

"I have. I just haven't told you yet." Deanna says "Same with Michonne. I'm closing in on something for Sasha. And I'm just trying to figure Mr. Dixon out, but I will."

She looks at me "Well, Guinevere, aren't you absolutely beautiful" I blush a little. It feels like when your mum would show your baby pictures to your friends "I also came here to see if Mrs Dixon would accept her job offer"

"Which is?" I ask

"Well I want Alexandria to be a proper community with a proper government. I want you to be part of that government. I've already asked Maggie to be my assistant but I think someone like you, with your talents and skills, needs to be a leader. So I'm going to work with you to replace me one day" Deanna says

My eyes widen "You don't even know me"

"I know enough" She replies

"Your people don't know me either" I say, feeling a little suspicious about this.

"They will. It seems everyone you meet loves you instantly. I did, so did Aaron, Eric and Jessie" Deanna says with a smile "Someone like you is what a community needs"

My eyes instantly go to Rick, then Maggie, then Ness before looking up at Daryl. Every single one of them reacts differently. Rick is suspicious but nods discretely for me to agree, Maggie is nodding at me in agreement, Nessa is frowning at Deana and Daryl looks at me with a hint of a nod. Approval or just go with it. I can't be sure until I ask him.

I look back at Deanna and nod "Okay, what's the harm in it"

She grins "Excellent"

"You look good." Deanna says to Rick before leaving.

That night I had the best night sleep I've had in a long time. Even Daryl slept. Which lately, is rare. Maybe I can get him to shower tomorrow. As accustomed as I am to his natural smell, he needs to at least try to work out here. Even if it means taking the damn place for ourselves eventually, for now he needs to try.

The next day everyone decides to head out to have a look around. Daryl sits on the porch. I look at him "You comin'?" I ask

He shakes his head. Rick comes out behind me "They said explore, Let's explore."

"Nah, I'll stay." Daryl says

"All right. Lori and me, we used to drive through neighbourhoods like this. Thinking, "One day..."" Rick says

"Well, here we are" Daryl says

Rick nods and starts down the steps "Gwen, you comin'?"

"Yeah, go ahead I'll catch up" I say with a smile

He nods and heads off. I walk over to Daryl and kneel down in front of him and lean my arms on his knees and lean my head on my arms.

"This is what we wanted isn't it?" I ask

He looks away from me and nods "Yeah, I guess"

I frown "It's not what you want any more is it?" I sit back and lean on my hand for support "It's simple out there. You move, you survive but… I don't want to just survive anymore Daryl. I want to live, I want to live with you. We can do that here… one way or another"

I stand but Daryl grabs my wrist and pulls me back down and between his legs "I want to live. I just need time"

I smile and nod. I pull back and kiss his forehead "Okay, if you're gonna stay here have a shower." I stand again "I love you"

"I love you too" He replies

I head down the steps of the porch and off down the street.


	33. Not Who I Used To Be

The others are long gone so I decide just to stroll casually. My knife is still attached to my belt on my waist. I feel I always will carry it. I observe my surroundings as I walk, taking in every face I see, staring at me curiously, every corner, every street, the position of every building. Where the wall is around the whole perimeter of the community. I spot Nessa near the entrance to the community. She's talking to a guy whose back is to me and she's smiling. Andy, Maggie, Glenn, Tara and Rosita are there too and are looking surprised. Nessa spots me and points to me. I stop a moment before continuing.

"Gwen!" She shouts.

I head over and the guy turns. I stop again and my mouth drops open "Spencer?" I say and head over.

Spencer grins and opens his arms "Gwen!"

I run over and hug him. He lifts me in his arms and hugs me tightly. He puts me down and I grin at him "I haven't seen you in such a long time" Spencer says.

"I know, DC didn't work out in the end for Nessa and I. I don't think I need to explain why" I reply then I remember Deanna introduced herself as Deanna Monroe. "Deanna's your mum"

Spencer nods.

"Gwen, what are you doing?" Rick asks suspiciously.

I turn to look at him and indicate to Spencer "This is Spencer, Deanna's son. We met at Georgetown when I first moved here. We were friends for years"

"Were?" Spencer asks confused.

I step away from him slowly "Times have changed, Spence. I'm not who I was and I don't even know you anymore."

"I haven't changed" Spencer says with a smile

I look at Nessa who looks at Spencer with suspicion but also a little hope "We don't know that" She says "We have to start again"

Rick comes over and says "I think we've had enough for today."

I nod "Yeah, um, see you later, Spence"

As my group walk away Spencer calls after us "You're still the only one who calls me Spence"

I smile and shake my head. He's still a goofy douche. "You knew him from before?" Rick asks, well interrogates.

"Yeah, he went to Georgetown with Nessa and I. We lived in the same building and he kind of attached himself to us, followed us around for a while before we became friends. We only ever saw each other once every three months after Nessa and I moved to Georgia" I explain in detail. Rick won't have it any other way.

Rick slows and makes me do the same. The others walk past us, oblivious to Rick and I slowing. "This changes nothing right?" Rick whispers as we walk slowly back to the house.

I smile up at him, keeping up appearance "Of course not" I whisper "We gotta do what we gotta do. I said it before. I don't know who Spence is anymore, he definitely doesn't know me"

Rick nods with a smile "That's good"

Rick looks down at my outfit and smirks "It's strange to see you in a dress"

I laugh "It's weird seeing you without facial hair"

He laughs and rubs his chin "Fair enough"

"Carl is at Jessie's house, meeting her son" Rick says as he climb the steps to the house

"That's good, I guess. He is just a kid after all and kids need friends" I say and play with my earring.

"You don't like it" Rick says as we stop on the porch, Daryl is still sitting there and watching us.

"How could you tell?" I ask

"You're playing with your earring." He says

I drop my hand "I gotta stop doing that and I don't want Carl to get attached… just in case"

I look at Daryl who nods in agreement. I look back at Rick who nods slowly and grips my shoulder gently before heading into the house. I turn to Daryl with my hand on my hips.

"You said you'd shower" I scold gently.

Daryl shakes his head "No, you said I should shower"

I sigh "I'll leave you be, for now"

Daryl nods and reaches for his crossbow. I knock his hand away and he looks up at me surprised "I didn't mean I'd leave _you_ alone." I kneel down in front of him and crawl between his legs.

Daryl stares at my face and strokes my cheek "You're beautiful, I almost forgot how beautiful you can look"

I smile "Thank you." The smile falls from my face and I look around before saying "There is a guy here, Deanna's son, I knew him before. We went to Georgetown together, we were friends."

A familiar look of jealously flicks across Daryl's face briefly "It changes nothing" I tell him. "I'm telling you because Spencer is an overly friendly guy, at least he was when I knew him. A bit clingy too"

Daryl nods and places his hands on my cheeks "whatever" He mutters before pulling me in for a kiss.

I smile against his mouth before allowing myself to sink into him. My hands wrap around his neck and one of my hands sink into his hair. Daryl deepens our kiss. Neither of us paid attention to the footsteps on the stairs to the porch, assuming it was just one of our own.

"Gwen?" I hear Spence say in surprise.

Daryl pulls away and reaches for his crossbow out of reflex. I grip his wrist as I turn to look at my old friend in surprise.

"Spence, what are you doing?" I ask "I thought Deanna said that we were to come to you people not the other way around"

Spencer looks shocked "Well, I thought you wouldn't mind given our history"

I force a smile across my face. Everything in me just wants to tell him he doesn't know a damn thing about me anymore. I'm not the person he remembers I was.

"My group don't. You have to understand that we don't trust people easily." I tell him calmly

Spencer nods "I'm sorry, Gwen and…um…" He looks at Daryl.

"Spence, this is my husband, Daryl Dixon. Daryl, this is Spencer Monroe, he's Deanna's son, the one I met at Georgetown" I introduce with a forced patience, really I just want him to go away.

I look towards the house and I see Rick, Carol and Maggie looking out at Spencer from different windows and Spencer doesn't even realise it… stupid.

Spencer looks at Daryl stunned before looking at me "You got married… _you_ , Guinevere McDade got married? I thought you hated men"

I frown as does Daryl "I never said I hated men, I said I don't date." I back into Daryl's chest. "Until I met Daryl."

Spencer forces a smile across his face "I'm happy you found someone, especially during all of this. I'll leave you be but if you need anything, anything at all, you just let me know okay, Snow?"

I don't react the same way I did when Jessie was here. I grip Daryl's knee tightly and nod with an even faker smile "Thanks, Spence I appreciate it"

"See you" He says and walks away.


	34. Keeping Up Appearances

When he's gone I stand quickly and walk into the house and straight upstairs. I close the door of the bedroom firmly and start pacing. People need to stop calling me that! I am not Snow White! I'm not a damsel in distress, I'm not weak! I'm not… I'm not dead. I sit on the bed and rub my face. I have been called Snow White all my life, it never once bothered me. Spence liked it when he heard Nessa call me it and Snow became his nickname for me. It was ever since that night when Daryl and I were reunited… the night I was attacked. Then Gareth called me it at Terminus… I don't want to hear it anymore! The door opens and Daryl walks in and closes it.

"You alright?" He asks

I nod "Yeah, it's just since that night I can't… I don't want to hear that nickname again! I don't want to be seen as weak. As a damsel in distress. I'm not… I've bit into my fair share of poison apples, I can't let this place be another" I say with tears building in my eyes

Daryl drops his crossbow and crosses the room quickly. He pulls me off the bed and into his arms. He holds me tightly. "It won' be. It won'"

I nod and my rigidness disappears and collapse into Daryl's chest. "Sit down, Angel" Daryl mutters.

I drop down on the bed. Daryl kneels down in front of me and removes my boots one at a time. I watch him curiously as he take off my socks too. He leans up and detaches my knife from my belt and places it under a pillow on the bed. He removes the belt next and drops it to the floor. I watch curiously as he moves the beautifully comfortable looking duvet down.

"Get in" He mutter as he takes off his vest and turns his back to me. He sits on the bed and removes his boots. I haven't seen him do that in a long time.

I look outside to see the sun setting…it's been a very quick day. I do as I'm told and climb under the covers. I'm sure Rick wanted us to stay together another night.

Daryl, still in his trousers and shirt joins me under the covers with me "Come 'ere" I nod and move forward until I'm in his arms. I bury my head into his chest and grip onto his shirt tightly "You ain't weak and you ain't no damsel. I know that, the group knows that. Don' let those pricks ruin that for you"

I nod slowly "It's going to take time"

I feel him nod against my hair "I know. Sleep, Angel. You need it"

"As long as you stay with me" I say

"All night" He confirms

I fall asleep. The lightness of my sleep has not yet dissipated. I'm awoken by the door opening and Daryl moving quickly Daryl strokes my hair and shushes me almost reflexively even though I'm kind of awake, I don't show it.

I almost drift off when Rick's voice whispers across the room "She okay?"

"Yeah, she needed comfort. She deserves a bed" Daryl whispers back

"I know" Rick replies quietly "I'm just checking you are both okay"

"We are. She needs this place Rick" Daryl whispers.

"She'll have it" Rick replies "One way or another"

After a silence Rick says "Goodnight, Daryl"

"Yeah, night, Rick"

I slip back into a deep sleep. I wake up the next day to find Daryl sleeping still. I smile and get up and shower before he wakes. I come back into the room and he's still asleep. I open the closet to find it still has clothes in it, a lot of them. Women's and men's but mostly women. This woman was a big breasted shopaholic… we would've got on well. She's a little too into dresses though. I pull out a cute short black work dress with fluted sleeves that end at the elbow. I dress into it. Why not? I kind of like the idea of being able to dress up, even if it's just for a little while. The woman had a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos. I pick a pair of flat, black ankle boots. Daryl wakes suddenly and looks around panicked. His eyes calm immediately when he spots me by the mirror.

"I'm here" I tell him. I head to the bed and sit on the edge.

He stares at me a moment "What are you wearing?"

"It's called a dress" I reply with a smirk.

He frowns "It's not practical"

I smile and brush his hair behind his ear "I know that. I'm keeping up appearances." I stand and do a little twirl "Plus, I kinda like it." I put my hand on my hip and wink at him "You do to"

Daryl shrugs and sits up. "It's alright"

I go over and kiss him "Liar" I pull away "Will you shower today please?"

He nods but bites his lip as he does. I sigh "Liar. I'm meeting Maggie downstairs and heading off to Deanna's. Behave yourself"

He smirks as he puts his shoes on and his vest "Yeah"

I shake my head and I head down the stairs. Daryl follows and heads straight outside. "Maggie?" I call.

She comes out of a bedroom upstairs with a toothbrush dangling from her mouth "Two minutes!" she says, at least I think that's what she said with a mouth full of toothpaste.

I laugh "I'll be outside"

She gives me the thumbs up and I head outside to see Daryl fucking about with his crossbow. He nicks his thumb.

"Honestly, will you give that thing a rest" I say and take his hand and suck on his thumb.

He watches me with darkening eyes. The door opens. I turn thinking its Maggie but its Carol. My eyebrow shoots up.

"What is with that get up?" I ask

She smiles at me "Blending in" She indicates to mine "Like you"

I grin "Touché"

"Well, time to punch the clock and make the casseroles." She says with a grin

"What?" Daryl asks

"Make dinner for the older people, moms who need a break, people who can't cook." She looks directly at me when she says that and I shrug "Get to meet a lot of the neighbours that way."

"All right." Daryl scoffs

"Have you taken a shower yet?" Carol asks

"Mm-hmm." He says with a nod and I shake my head

"Take a shower." She says, heading down the steps "I'm gonna wash that vest. We need to keep up appearances, even you."

"Hey, I ain't starting now." Daryl protests

"I'm gonna hose you down in your sleep." Carol calls back

"You look ridiculous." Daryl throws at her.

Maggie comes out then and lets out a deep breath "Right, I'm ready!"

I smile "finally"

I look at Daryl and point "Do what Carol says"

He nods as I walk away with Maggie "Do what?" She asks

"Shower" I reply.

She laughs.


	35. Settling In

Deanna shows us the layout of the community, her plan to expand the wall. Tells us the general ins and outs of Alexandria, who does what and all that. Then she takes us on a little tour.

"It killed our friend. Look, I'm not having this conversation. You obey my orders out there" I hear someone yell.

Deanna pick up her pace and Maggie and I follow to see Aiden, Deanna's other son, square up to a pissed off looking Glenn.

I see Daryl advancing on the scene and my body feels flush with anxiety. Deanna heads over quickly. Maggie and I exchange a look of anxiety before following.

"Aiden! What is going on?" Deanna snaps

"This guy's got a problem with the way we do things." Aiden replies with a smirk that just makes me want to punch him "Why did you let these people in?"

"Because we actually know what we're doing out there." Glenn replies angrily. Aiden swings for Glenn misses and receives a punch in the face from Glenn. "Aiden, no! That's enough!" Deanna yells.

Daryl tackles Nicholas and my heart stops. I run over and pull at Daryl's arm "Daryl, stop it. Stop it now. Please"

Rick comes through the gate and Michonne appears at Maggie's side. Rick runs for us but I've already got Daryl off Nicholas with my hands on his chest to keep him calm. Rick comes over.

"You good?" He says to Daryl.

Daryl nods "Yeah."

I look at Deanna, a little worried… she wouldn't right?

"I want everyone to hear me, okay? Rick and his people are part of this community now in all ways as equals. Understood?" She yells and looks specifically at Aiden who shrugs.

"Understood" He replies.

"All of you, turn in your weapons. Then you two come talk to me." Deanna says to Aiden and Nicholas

Everyone leaves apart from Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, Deanna and I. Deanna looks at Rick and says "I told you I had a job for you. I'd like you to be our constable. That's what you were. That's what you are." She looks at Michonne "And you, too. Will you accept?"

"Okay." Rick says

"Yeah, I'm in." Michonne says.

Daryl scoffs. He turns picks up his crossbow and walks away "Daryl" I call after him and move to follow him but Deanna grips my hand.

"It's okay, Gwen. He's not going anywhere. I promise" Deanna says

I look at her and nod. She looks at Glenn and says "Thank you."

"For what?" Glenn asks

"For knocking him on his ass." Deanna replies. She looks at me "You can thank Daryl too"

I nod with a smile "Okay"

That night I'm outside with Daryl and have a cigarette "Deanna says thanks"

Daryl scoffs "For what?"

I pull myself up to sit in the railing "Knocking that Nicholas kid on his ass" I reply with a smirk.

Daryl shrugs "Whatever"

Rick comes out then in uniform and I whistle "Looking good there officer" I tease

"Thanks, we good?" He asks Daryl

Daryl nods "Yeah. You a cop again?"

Rick sighs "I'm trying it on for size."

Carol comes out then and looks between us "So we're staying?"

"I think we can start sleeping in our own homes. Settle in." Rick says

"If we get comfortable here, we let our guard down… this place is gonna make us weak." Carol says, voicing my worry

"Carl said that. But it's not gonna happen." Rick says "We won't get weak. That's not in us anymore. We'll make it work. And if they can't make it... then we'll just take this place."

I smile "Exactly and on that note. I'm going to take the first step by claiming that room upstairs Daryl and I were in last night because I need that bed… and the wardrobe… mostly the wardrobe"

Rick laughs "Alright. We should talk about how we're splitting ourselves."

"We'll have a group discussion" I say and nod towards the house

"We'll be staying in the same house, that what is best" Rick says

I nod in agreement. We head back into the house. "Guys, we think it's time we all settled in to both houses. How do you guys feel about that?"

There is a general murmur of agreement "Good so now we need to decide who's going where. There are six bedrooms per house and 18 people. Keeping in mind Daryl and myself are sharing a room and Maggie and Glenn"

"Judith will stay in a room with me" Rick says "Rosita and Abraham, will you two be sharing?"

Rosita nods "Yeah we will"

I nod "Okay that just leaves where everyone is going. Daryl, Rick, Carl, Judith and Myself will be staying here. That leaves three bedrooms in this and all six in the other"

"Maggie and I will stay here too" Glenn says. "This is the bigger house so more people should stay in it"

"Abraham and I will go next door" Rosita says "We don't want it to be too crowded in here"

I nod "That leaves two in here and five next door"

"I will go next door" Carol says "Look after things there"

"Andy and I will take the final two rooms in here then" Nessa says

"That means, Tara, Michonne Noah, Eugene and Gabriel are next door too. That cool with everyone? How wait… There is not enough bedrooms"

Gabriel stands then "I would feel more comfortable in the church"

Rick and I look at each other "You're leaving the group?" Rick asks

Gabriel looks nervous "I'm the priest, I should stay in the church"

"If that's what you want" I say, I don't even care that much to be honest. I've never really liked Gabriel.

There is a general agreement and people start moving their gear to their new rooms and houses. They can decide in their respective homes who's sleeping where. A conversation that comes up once the house is emptied apart from Daryl, Rick, Carl, Judith, Maggie, Glenn, Nessa, Andy and I.

"Couples get the en-suites" Rick says. "There's nine of us and four bathrooms."

"Math is about right" Andy says.

"Nice, the rest of you should go pick your rooms." I say

Once everyone else went upstairs leaving Maggie, Glenn, Daryl and myself downstairs Maggie and I turn to each other and high five "Yes!"

Maggie laughs and heads upstairs with Glenn leaving Daryl and I alone. I turn to Daryl and smile seductively "As for you Mr Dixon, you are fucking showering"

Daryl looks instantly annoyed. I raise my finger to his mouth "Hold on, I have a proposition for you."

He looks down at me with a raised eyebrow "Yeah? What's that?"

"I'll join you" I tell him with a smirk


	36. One Way Or Another

Daryl looks down at me quietly for a moment before grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs. I grin and allow him to drag me. He heads straight into our bedroom and beelines it for the bathroom. The door shuts and Daryl has me pressed against it, kissing me heatedly. I grin against his mouth and push off his vest.

I pull his mouth away and say breathlessly as he connects his mouth to my neck "One more condition"

He grunts in reply.

"This vest is getting washed." I tell him.

"Fine, whatever" Daryl says kissing my mouth again.

I feel bad using sex as a weapon but in my defence this was a last resort! Plus he likes it. I love it… everyone wins! Daryl's hands travel up my body to the zip on the back of my dress and pulls it down. I let go of his shoulders and allow the dress to slide off my arms and to the floor. I kick it aside and toe off my boots before Daryl lifts me up by my thighs and presses me further into the door. I purposefully rip his shirt from top to bottom, popping off all the buttons. Now he has to change his shirt! He doesn't care as he feels my hands travel down his body to his belt. The belt is off and his trousers are unbuttoned and half way down his legs in a matter of seconds. Daryl kicks off his shoes and his trousers follow. I push him away from me and he loses his grip and my feet make contact with the cold tile of the floor. I move around him to the shower and turn it on. Daryl turns, only in his boxers and watches me as I strip away my underwear and step back into the warm flow of the water.

"Come on, Daryl" I say with a little smirk.

Daryl forces himself to be very composed as he removes his underwear and steps into the shower with me. The water flows over his skin, the dirt and grime starting to come off revealing his tanned skin underneath. I think I'm the only one who hasn't gained a tan. The look on Daryl's face is one of pure bliss as the hot waters hits him. I haven't seen him so relaxed in months. I grab the soap and rub it over his body. I trace every scar, every tattoo on his body before letting the water wash away all the suds. I reach for the shampoo next, excited to see what his hair looks like now with a little bounce to it. The thought makes me grin. Daryl allows me to lean up on my tip toes to wash his hair. I run my hands down to his shoulders to his waist before kissing his shoulder gently. Daryl turns on me sharply and presses my back against the cold shower glass wall. I gasp an arch into Daryl on contact. Daryl groans against my hair.

"Gwen, I need you right now" He gasps

I nod "Do it, now." I breathe against his neck

Daryl lift me by my thighs and aligns himself with me. I kiss him as he enters me slowly. I sigh as he does. Oh God, it's been so long. I almost forgot. Daryl breathes deeply against my lips.

"God, Gwen." He grunts quietly and starts moving slowly.

I grip Daryl's shoulder gently as he picks up speed, faster and harder. I'm panting his name loudly. I can be as loud as I want now, it's great! Daryl moves harder, more erratic, his voice rougher. My body tenses and I bite down on his shoulder hard as I climax. Daryl lets out a colourful array of swear words as he thrusts his hips so hard I swear I almost went through the glass. He stills and holds my thighs tightly. His face resting on my breasts. Daryl's hands slide from my thighs. He presses his hands against the glass of the shower, blocking me in and kisses me over and over as the waters continues to wash away any evidence of what just happened.

I lean over and turn off the water "We haven't done that before" I say with a grin.

Daryl laughs "No, we should do it more often"

I nod "Hell yeah"

I open the doors of the shower and step out, grab a towel and toss another to Daryl. I wrap myself up and brush my teeth before heading through to the bedroom. I hear Daryl brush his teeth and smile to myself. We are staying here no matter what it takes.

Daryl walks in and I point to the dresser "Clean boxers in there"

I throw on a pair of shorts and a long t-shirt. I climb into the bed and smile at Daryl as he climbs in next to me. "This is weird, isn't it? A good weird" I ask him

"What do you mean?" He asks

"Did you actually believe that we would have or own home, even with our big ass family, it's ours. We have our own space, a bed, a bathroom, hell a roof in general. It finally feels like we are a proper married couple, minus the tax and mortgage." I say and look up into his face.

Daryl looks at me with a small smile before his eyes flick to my stomach "For a while, after Lori, I didn' want to have a family. I just wanted you, alive. If we stay here…"

"No if Daryl, this _is_ our home now, wither these people like it or not" I say firmly

Daryl nods slowly and lies down "C'mon" He mutters

I smile and turn off the light before laying on Daryl's chest. I can get used to this. I will get used to this.


	37. Nothing Fazes Us Anymore

The next morning, I go downstairs with Daryl's vest and had the intention of washing it when I see Rick and Carol standing in the kitchen.

Carol looks at the vest in my hand and her eyes widen "You got it off of him!"

"I got him to shower" I tell her

"Give it here, I'll wash it" She says

"It's okay, you don't have too" I tell her

She looks at me with a smirk "Do you know how to clean leather?"

I look at the vest then hand it over defeated "No, I'm really not cut out for a domestic lifestyle"

Carol laughs and Rick smirks "That's what I'm here for" Carol says

Moments later Daryl comes downstairs quickly wearing clean clothes but he still ripped the sleeves off the shirt he found. I pull at the frays and frown "Why do you do that?"

"So I can move better" He replies

I sigh and get him and me some coffee "Wow, Daryl, you look so much better" Carol says

"Gee, thanks" Daryl says sarcastically.

I hand him one of the cups in my hand "I'm liking this whole coffee thing. We gotta stick around just for this" I say as I blow on my cup.

"Speaking of which. This afternoon we go out so we can talk more freely." Rick says

"For what reason exactly?" I ask

"Daryl is goin' huntin' with you and I'm teaching Carol how to shoot." Rick says.

"And we all happen to go out and come back together?" I ask

Rick nods "Yeah, we don't stray far from each other and meet up before heading back"

I nod and look down at myself "I'm gonna change then. Hunting in a skirt isn't exactly practical"

I put down my cup and run upstairs. I change into jeans and vest top and pull on my old, now cleaner, boots before running back down. "I'll meet you guys at the gate at three. I'm with Deanna and Maggie till then. I can't wait to hold my gun again, I've felt so naked without it" I say to Rick, Carol and Daryl.

I move to the bottom of the stairs "Maggie, let's go!" I call up.

"Coming!" She calls back.

Two minutes later she's heading down the stairs "See you guys later!" I call into the kitchen before heading out with Maggie.

She looks at me before saying "Why are you dressed normally?"

I laugh "I'm going hunting with Daryl this afternoon, I'm meeting him at the gate at three"

"Aw, it's cute that that is how you bond" Maggie says

I grin "Well Daryl is hardly the chocolates and flowers guy"

"It's cute" She says decisively

I tell Deanna that I'm going hunting with Daryl later and she says "Why hunting?"

"Daryl is a hunter and tracker. It's what he likes to do and sometimes he likes me to go with him. I guess you can say it's how we date. He's teaching me how to track today" I rely with a grin

Deanna smiles "That is very sweet"

I grin like a schoolgirl "It's what we do" I actually like Deanna. She appears to be sincere, honest and blunt. Qualities I admire in a person… maybe this can work.

I leave a little before three and head to the store where they keep our guns. Olivia greets me with a flustered grin.

"Mrs Dixon! Or do you prefer Doctor Dixon?" She babbles.

I smile "Just call me Gwen, peach"

She becomes even more flustered and her cheeks redden at the nickname and says "What can I do for you?"

"I'm going outside the wall so I need my gun" I say with a smile

She nods "Oh, okay." She leads me into the room with the guns "Can I ask why?"

"My husband and I are going hunting but it's more of a tracking lesson for me" I tell her.

Her eyes light up and she says "Oh! If you catch a boar out there can I have one of the legs? I used to cure meat in my basement before, never thought it would be so useful"

I run my eyes over the girl as I find my gun and pick it up, I grab my rifle to, for appearances sake "No problem, peach" I tell her.

I give people nicknames so I don't have to remember their names. I'm not being mean I'm just really bad with names and I haven't met new people in such a long time, especially this many at once.

She grins at me "Thank, Mrs… I mean Gwen"

I head out to the gate and Daryl is already there with Carol and Rick. Daryl is wearing his vest which looks a lot better now it's clean.

"Oh, Gwen, honey. Daryl says you two are going hunting together." Carol says all sugary sweet, it's not natural "Rick is taking me out for a shooting lesson"

I smile as the gates are opened "That's good you're keeping it up. You're getting pretty good"

Carol waves her hand "I'm trying"

Once we are a decent distance from the gate Carol screws the smile off her face "Uh, that's better. Smiling all the time hurts"

I laugh "You chose to go all Betty Crocker on us"

Carol laughs quietly as Rick leads us through the woods. We stop next to an abandoned house.

Rick starts off by saying "I think we need to get guns. Not a lot but if things don't work out we need weapons to take the community with"

I hear a growl. Daryl looks around then comes back.

"I don't see it, but it's close. There's just one of 'em." He says

"We won't be here long. So what do you think?" Rick says

"It's a good idea but how do we get them? The place is locked down at night and Peach is there all day" I say

"Peach?" Rick asks confused

"It's what I call the lassie who works there when I forget her name" I tell him

"We can go in when it's empty." Carol says

"How is that? It's locked up at night." Rick says

"The window. There's just a latch. I can leave it open." Carol says with a shrug

"A latch?" Rick repeats looking dumbstruck by the stupidity of these people

"Yeah." Carol replies

"What if one of those pricks shuts it?" Daryl asks

"Wait a couple of days, leave it open again." Carol says

Daryl walks away a little "It's getting closer." He says, referring to the walker

"We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this. We may need the guns, we may not." Rick says

Carol frowns "We will whatever way it goes."

"They're the luckiest damn people I ever met. And they just keep getting luckier." Rick says

"How's that?" Daryl asks

Rick shrugs "We're here now."

"Have you noticed how modest we are?" I ask sarcastically

"Tell me I'm wrong" Rick challenges

I put my hands up "I ain't challenging, just stating an observation it's what I do best right?"

"They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimetre autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone." Carol states

Daryl indicates to the abandoned blender that Rick had said he hid a gun but now it's missing "Someone's got one now, right?"

"Mmm. Listen, the others, we want them to try." Rick says

"You, too." Carol says to Daryl

I take Daryl's hand and smile up at him "He is" Daryl looks down at me and nods.

Rick nods "So we keep it quiet. Just us."

The walker's growling is louder. I see it coming through the trees behind me.

"Here it comes." Rick says, we don't even blink anymore, when it's just one or even a handful, it's like swatting mosquitoes at this point. I bet a pound and a penny that when those inside the walls see just one, they freak right out… and that's why they need us. They can't handle this world and facing it is inevitable no matter how safe you think you are.

"I got him." Daryl says

"Hey, wait." Carol says and steps forward and just starts shooting the crap out of it then finally popping it in the head "We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag."

"Lucky he came by." Daryl says

"Oh, yeah, wait a minute" I lift my rifle and fire at a tree twice, the silencer mutes the sound of the bullet. "Damn I missed"

Rick frowns "Missed what?"

"The imaginary animal Daryl and I were hunting" I say with a grin.

Rick grins and shakes his head "We should get back." We start walking back "You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment. Us, we don't need to be lucky."

Daryl stops at the walker Carol took down and stares at it "What the hell is that?" He asks moving around to look at it better.

"What is what?" I ask looking at the walker.

Daryl points to its forehead where something is carved "Is that a W" He says it like double-ya.

"Yeah" Carol says

Rick leans down and looks at the walker then up at us with worry before we walk off again "You say W weird" I say to Daryl, pronouncing it double-you.

"What?" He asks

"W, you say it weird" I repeat.

He looks a little baffled "People are carving letters into walkers and that's what you're thinkin' about?"

I shrug "What? People are doing creepy and disgusting things. What's new? Hearing you say W for the first time however, is new"

Carol laughs before saying "Nothing fazes us anymore, does it?"

"Touch wood" I say touching a tree as I pass it "We have seen the worst humanity has to offer"


	38. Good Liars

The moment we're back I take my gun to… Ah, what's her name…Oh well, Peach. I take it to Peach. Daryl comes with me.

"Mrs Dixon, I mean, Gwen. You're back, did you get anything?" Peach asks as we walk in.

I sigh sadly "Daryl let me take point and I missed, twice." I look back at Daryl with an apologetic look "Sorry, baby"

Daryl shrugs "It happens, don' beat yoursel' up about it" I smile, my baby can lie.

Peach smiles "Oh, well. Next time"

I nod "Yeah, next time" I hold out my guns "Will I just give these to you or do you want me to take them back myself, Peach?"

She takes them quickly with a grin, like she's trying to impress me "No, no, I got it. You've got better things to do than this"

I smile kindly "Thanks, Peach. Catch you later"

Daryl and I leave and I take his hand. Walking down the street hand in hand. I like this too.

"You're a good liar" Daryl whispers in my ear.

I grin and push him back playfully "ain't I just. I don't make a habit of it though. I don't like it but needs must. You too by the way"

Daryl nods "I'm the same, don' do it unless I gotta"

I nudge him "You lie to me all the time"

He looks at me confused and I say "You tell me you're fine"

Later on Daryl comes into the kitchen where Nessa is trying to teach me to make the simplest food, pasta.

"Angel, I'm goin' out. I'm gonna go for a proper hunt" He says walking in, he didn't notice Nessa until he finished his sentence.

Nessa frowns "Proper hunt? I thought you went hunting earlier?"

I shake my hand from side to side "Kinda, Daryl was teaching me how to track mostly."

Nessa nods "Ohhh, I see"

I go over to Daryl and look at him concerned "Are you sure you want to go alone?"

He nods "Yeah, I'm sure"

I lean up and kiss him "Be safe and I want you back before nightfall"

He kisses me once more before saying "I'll be back before nightfall"

I nod "Thank you, it's all I ask"

He leaves and I turn to Nessa "He's not taking this well huh?"

I shake my head "No, but he's getting there, I got him to shower and I got that vest off him long enough for Carol to wash it!"

Nessa high fives me "Nice and what did you have to do to get him to take off said vest and shower?"

I smirk "Just using my influence as his wife, best friend and confidant"

"Sooo, you shagged him?" She says

I nod "Pretty much"

Maggie comes in then "There you are, come back to Deanna's for a bit"

I nod "See you later" I say to Nessa and follow Maggie.

"Get anything?" She asks

I shake my head "Nah, Daryl ended up just trying to teach me how to track and getting impatient about it"

Maggie giggles. At Deanna's, I find Rick and Michonne there, decked out in their uniforms, Rick was in his earlier but it's weird seeing Michonne with it on.

"Looking good Michonne" I say sitting at Deanna's dining table next to Maggie.

She smiles "Thanks"

Deanna watches the interaction before turning to the new Sherriff's in town "You protect and serve. You patrol, walk the wall, watch out for the kids. If there's a conflict, you solve it. And people will listen to you."

"Because we're wearing windbreakers?" Michonne asks

"Because they believe in this. Because I'm telling them to. A police officer used to live here. So we had these jackets and I wanted to make it official. So it's official. There's gonna be a government here one day. That's why I want Maggie and Gwen working with me. There's gonna be a police force. That's why I want you two to start it. I see a vibrant community here with industry, commerce, civilization. Real lives. It might be horses and mills, but- what?" She trails off after seeing Rick look off into the distance "Does that sound like pie in the sky?"

"No." Maggie says first

"No" I say with a smile at Deanna

"No." Michonne says

Deanna looks at Rick curiously "No." He says "Can we talk security?"

"Yes, we can" Deanna says

"Let's take a walk" Rick says.

We head outside and walk the length of the wall as Rick talks "We need a constant patrol along the walls. Not just looking for damage, but signs that anyone climbed in from outside. You can move right up the supports. That's what I'd do. People are the real threat now."

"Rick, I know you think that we should all be armed within the walls. I- I can't do that." Deanna says

Rick nods "That's fine. You make these changes, we won't need to."

"Excuse me." Sasha comes towards us "I want to volunteer to be one of the lookouts in the clock tower."

"There are no lookouts in the clock tower." Deanna says and my eyes widen, who's manning the wall?

"What?" Rick snaps

"We saw someone up there earlier." Michonne says, shocked

"That was an empty rifle my son Spencer put up there. He mans it sometimes, but not often. Look, there hasn't been the need." Deanna says

"We need a lookout in that tower right now, 24/7." Rick says firmly

"It's the only way we'll be able to see if someone's coming at us." Michonne says

"Okay, okay, we'll make shifts." Deanna agrees

"I'll take those shifts, as many as possible." Sasha says

"Why?" Deanna asks her curiously

"Sasha's one of our best shots. She can do it." Maggie says

"I'm gonna put Spencer up there today. I'll consider you being our primary lookout, but I want something in return." Deanna says. "Tonight I'm hosting a welcome for all of you at my home. I want you to be there."

"Why?" Sasha asks

"Come tonight. Then we'll talk about it." Deanna says

Sasha walks off as does Michonne and Rick to do patrols. I turn to Deanna "What kind of party?"

"The kind where I want to see how pretty you can get" She says

Maggie giggles "That is pretty damn beautiful I imagine"

"Imagine?" Deanna asks as we head back towards the houses.

"I've never seen Gwen wear make-up before. The first time I saw her wear a dress was here" Maggie says

"Same for you, I've never seen you all fancy either" I say to Maggie.

Deanna looks between us with a smile "Well tonight is the night"


	39. The Party

Maggie and I head back to the house "Here, Maggie, my wardrobe is choca-block full of dresses and a shoe rack that would offend Paris Hilton. Come check it out"

Maggie grins and grabs my hand "We'll grab Nessa too!"

Back at the house, Nessa and Maggie look through my wardrobe and stare at the shoe rack that takes up the entire length of the bottom of the double wardrobe, the whole thing packed with shoes.

"Oh, Gwen, you would suit this" Nessa says.

I turn from the mirror and look at the dress in her hands. It's beautiful. It's white with a black, mesh, lace overlay that takes up the entire top of the dress and lessens and finally ends at the hips. The skirt is mid-thigh and full, I can see a hint of a mesh underskirt. It's high necked but the mesh makes it look see through and it is sleeveless. It's gorgeous.

"Put it on!" Maggie encourages.

I strip then take the dress and slide it on. Nessa zips me up and fastens the button and I look at myself in the mirror "Wow" Nessa and Maggie say.

Maggie turns and dives for the wardrobe "I saw a pair of black shoes that would look great with that"

She pulls out the pair and hands them to me. My mouth drops open "There are Christian Louboutin's" The classic red bottom gives them away. Black, patent leather, a large platform and 5 inch heel. "I'm going to be tall!"

The girls finally pick outfits and shoes and I do my make-up and hair. It's been so long since I've done make-up I almost forgot how. I stick to my classic look. Eyeliner, mascara and my, used to be, signature red lip. I pin my hair half up, half down, 70's style.

Nessa smiles at me as she applies a dark purple to her lips "I forgot how damn beautiful you are. You already are but damn little sister"

Maggie nods "You made the impossible possible"

I feel my face flush "Shut up guys"

I tell Maggie to go ahead with Nessa, Glenn and Andy. I will wait for Rick and Carol and look after Judith. I dress Judith in a pretty pink dress before Rick comes home. "Who are you?" I hear being snapped from the door.

I turn confused "Who are you snapping at?" I say to Rick with a pout

"Holy shit" He lets out, accidently I'm assuming

I smile "You okay?"

He shakes his head "Wow, you look fantastic"

I grin and look away "Thank you"

I pick Judith up "Get changed, I'll go get Carl then go next door for Carol"

"She's downstairs, baking cookies" Rick says

I raise an eyebrow "Okay doke then"

I head down the hall to Carl's room and knock "Come in" He calls

I walk in saying "You ready yet?"

He nods then his mouth drops "Wow, You look great"

"Aw, thanks kid, let's go" I say and head downstairs

Carol is placing her cookies on a tray and I move over quickly "Oh, can we have one pitty please, mama Carol" I plead

Carol looks up with a grin then her eyes widen "Wow, look at you. I didn't know you could get more beautiful… you don't even look like you should be real"

I pick up a cookie and bite into it "Mmm, these are good!"

I hover the cookie in front of Judith's mouth and she bites it. Her eyes lighten up, her first cookie. "She likes it too"

Carol stares at me "That just looks natural"

"What does?" I ask

"You with a baby on your hip" She replies

I smile "Thanks, maybe one day I'll have one of my own"

Carol nods "Maybe"

"Right, I'm ready" Rick says

I turn and he's standing at the door with Carl looking good in a dress shirt "You clean up well officer Grimes"

"So do you, Doctor Dixon" He replies

I laugh "Come on. Let's go"

We head down the street Carol looks at my shoes "How on earth can you walk in them?"

"Years of practice" I tell her.

At Deanna's we hear music and chatting so we just walk in. I go in last with Judith still on my hip. "Oh my" I hear Deanna say "Welcome."

"Hi." Carol says with a grin

"Oh, it's so good to see you. Hi, Carl." Deanna says then her eyes fall to me

She opens her mouth with a look of shock and awe "Well, Mrs Dixon aren't you just absolutely stunning"

God, I wish I never dressed up now. This is just getting embarrassing. "Thank you Deanna. You look great"

"Thank you for coming." She says and looks at Judith in my arms "You know, I didn't get a chance to interview this one. I envy her."

"Why?" Rick asks

"She'll get to see what this place will become. Come. Come on in." Deanna says

People stare and it's uncomfortable so I head straight over to Maggie, Glenn and Nessa "I'm starting to regret this" I tell them

"You're the centre of attention little sister, the belle of the ball. Revel in it. I would" Nessa says

"I'm not you" I reply

Abraham and Rosita head over "Well, well, Princess. Don't you clean up good" Abraham says

I shake my head "Thanks" I look at Rosita "You're looking good, doll" I say to her.

"Not as good as you" Rosita says

"That's it, hold Judith, I'm going home to change" I say to Maggie

Maggie puts her hand on my shoulder "Relax, people will get used to it"

I see Jessie come in with her family and I hand Judith to Nessa and tell the group I'll be back and head over to her "Hey" I say cheerfully

She looks at me surprised and confused for a minute then says "Oh my gosh, Gwen? You look… I mean look at you… wow…"

I look down briefly with a smile "Thanks" I look at her family and hold my free hand out to her husband "Hi, I'm Guinevere Dixon but everyone calls me Gwen"

He shakes my hand "Hi, I'm Pete"

I turn to her kids. I hold my hand out to the eldest "You must be Ron" I say as he shakes my hand.

"Yeah, are you Carl's mom?" He asks

I shake my head "Not biologically no" I look at the smaller one "That means you are Sam" I say holding my hand out.

He takes it looking up in awe "Yeah, hi"

I look at Jessie again "Is it bad that this is me just meeting your family?"

Jessie shakes her head "No, you've been busy, we don't expect you to meet everyone in the first week."

I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn, I grin "Spencer"

He opens his arms "Can I hug you?"

"You ask permission now?" I ask with a grin and hug him

He laughs and looks at me up and down "You look great but you always look great"

"Thanks"

"So, where is the husband tonight?" He asks

I shrug "Parties aren't exactly Daryl's thing. I was hoping he would show up but I'm not surprised he didn't."

As the night progresses, I stand with Glenn, Maggie and Nessa, holding Judith and observe the room. Andy is with Noah, Abraham and Rosita are together, Rick is talking to that Jessie girl, Carl is talking to a couple of teenage boys, Tara is talking to random people as is Michonne, Eugene is standing alone. The others I can't locate. I know Carol is off to get the guns. I'm surprised Gabriel is not here, I half expected him to be mooching up to Deanna. Sasha isn't here, I'm not surprised, she's not quite been herself since Bob and Tyresse and I can't blame her. As for Daryl, I don't think he realises that this can be ours, not really. He's trying, for me, but it did take me two days to get them man to shower and I would not be surprised if he's still out there. I look out the window, its dark.

I sighs and touch Maggie's arm gently "I need to find Daryl"

"Okay" She says looking around worried then she whispers "Tell Deanna, keep up appearances"

I nod "Yeah"

I plaster on a fake smile and head over to Deanna "Hey, Deanna" I say

She turns to me with a grin "Yes, Gwen"

I step forward a little and say quietly "I hope you don't find me rude but would you mind if I left a little early. Daryl's not here and I'm worried"

She smirks and nods "I'm not surprised Daryl's not here"

I sigh "The thing with Daryl is he acts all aloof and uncaring and a hard ass but he's actually very loyal, very focused and extremely protective. He's one of those men that you have to really look at. If he was a book he would be complex but probably the best book you have ever read"

Deanna smiles "I was right about you. You make a fantastic Politian"

I laugh "I don't know wither to take that as an insult or a compliment"

Deanna laughs "A compliment, very well spoken. You know exactly what to say and you make everyone you come across love you with one sentence. You are the perfect person to help run Alexandria"

I look at her surprised but nod all the same "Thanks, I think. I should go. Thanks again Deanna"

"Oh, if you're looking for Daryl I would try Aaron's and Eric's" Deanna says

I look at her surprised "Oh, okay, thanks"


	40. Couples Dinner

I tell Rick I'm leaving and give Judith to him and he tells me to watch my back. I know Aaron's is four houses down from ours. I didn't have to count though. Their house was the only house on the street with their lights on. I walk up to the door and chap on it. I look behind me and observe the darkness. Nervous habit.

The door opens and I turn around with a smile "Hi, Aaron is Daryl with you?"

Aaron looks at me surprised "Why, Gwen, you look fantastic, well more fantastic"

I let out a little laugh "Thanks, is Daryl here?"

Aaron steps back "Yes, come on in. We're just about to have dinner, would you like some"

"Yes, thank you" I reply.

"Daryl, Gwen is here" Aaron states as he leads me into his dining room.

My heart calms when I see Daryl, without injury and he has a shirt with sleeves on! I rush over and fling my arms around my husband's neck "Daryl, I was worried"

"Sorry Gwen" He replies and holds me.

I pull back and look at his sleeved shirt and let out a giggle "I haven't seen you in one of these since the farm"

"I was goin' to the party but…" He starts but I place my finger over his mouth

"I know baby. Don't let anyone try and tell you to be someone you're not and if anyone has a problem with it then they can go fuck off"

"Aw" Eric says from Daryl's right "You two are cute"

I look up at Eric surprised and stand straight "Oh, sorry Eric! Hi, how's your ankle?"

He grins "It's okay, I get it. It's a little sore. Pete said you did a good job by the way"

I grin "Good." I say then look back at Daryl and frown "Let me know when you're back next time! I was worried and I don't like worrying it makes me look old"

Daryl grabs the collar of my dress and pulls me down to his level. His hand brushes over my cheeks lightly and across my bottom lip, taking off some of my lipstick. He looks at his thumb in annoyance.

"You don't need it." Is all he says but it still makes me blush. After all this time he can still do that to me.

I turn my blush into a pout "You don't like it? It took me hours to figure out eyeliner again, I smudged it three times"

Daryl lets go of my dress and I sit down in front of him "I never said I didn' like it. I said you don' need it"

I grin "So you do like it?" I ask with a wink "Don't I look more like that picture you carry around with you?"

Daryl shrugs and starts stuffing his face with the spaghetti Aaron places down in front of him. I can't help but grin. Even his eating is cute. I thank Aaron as he gives me mine.

"So what does this picture look like?" Aaron asks as he sits down

Daryl looks up and looks between the two men edgily. I giggle "They'll give it back, honey"

Daryl nods and sits back. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crinkled photo and hands it to Eric between two fingers. Eric takes and looks at the photo.

"Isn't it strange how innocent we all appear before all of this?" He says as he hands it to Aaron

Aaron looks at it and smiles "Cute, how old were you here?"

"Young" I reply but Aaron shoots me a look. I sigh and say "I was 21"

"How old are you now?" Eric asks

"I'm 27" I tell Aaron with a smile

"How old are you Daryl?" Aaron asks

Daryl hesitates then says "42"

Eric coughs "That's quite the age gap"

I shrug "Yeah well when the world fell apart love felt more important than age or any other factor for that matter." I look at the couple with a grin "Don't you agree?"

Eric nods enthusiastically "Oh yes! Aaron and I know that very well"

I look over at Daryl who is staring at me with a hint of a smile. He's hiding is emotions from Aaron and Eric, I get it. Daryl does not trust easily and neither do I.

"You guys been here since the start?" I ask

Aaron hands the picture back to Daryl and nods "Yeah, what's your story?"

"Story?" I ask

"You guys came from the south right? That must have been a trek" Aaron says with a smile

"Yeah it was. We've been through a lot and we'd rather not talk about it" I say with a smile

Aaron nods "That's okay. We get it. It's hard out there"

Daryl grips my hand tightly as he sees my eye twitch with resentment. They know nothing of what's out there. I take a deep breath and plaster on a smile "Yes it is"

"Sorry, we don't know what it is actually like being out there for so long, I'm sure it was terrifying" Aaron says

I almost say yes but then I think, it actually wasn't, eventually "Actually, by the time you found us I never felt fear anymore it was more of an adrenaline fuelled survival instinct"

"You're an anthropologist right?" Eric asks

"Yeah" I reply

"Well from an Anthropological view what do you think of our community?" He asks

I put down my fork and think. I never really thought of it anthropologically before. "Anthropologically, this place is exactly how you would picture an ancient settlement who faced an outside hostile force, although the security needs to be increased and every civilization throughout time had a military force of some kind. At some point or another it will be inevitable. It always is. Historically, anthropologically and archeologically, it's clear that only the strongest survive"

"Is that a fact?" Eric asks

I nod "It is. Ask my sister, she did her PhD on the rise and fall of ancient Native American societies"

"What was yours on?" Aaron asks

"The effect of disease on the bone and the affect they have on modern day society" I tell him

"Wow" Aaron says

"Well now it's irrelevant. Modern day society isn't what it was when I wrote it" I tell him

We go back to eating and Daryl is really destroying his food. I see Eric and Aaron exchange a little laugh.

Daryl wipes his mouth on his sleeve, I kick him under the table. He looks at me and picks up his napkin and wipes his mouth with that.

"Thanks" Daryl grunts.

"Mmm, when you're out there, if you happen to be in a store or something, Mrs. Neudermyer is really looking for a pasta maker and we're all really trying to get her to shut up about it. I mean, we have crates of dried pasta in here, but she wants to make her own or something. I really think she just wants something to talk about, so... if you see one out on your travels, it would go a long way to..." I look at Eric confused then over at Aaron who has both eyebrows raised.

Eric trails off then says "I thought it was done. You didn't ask him already?"

"Ask me what?" Daryl says

"What's going on?" I ask suspiciously.

Aaron stands "Why don't you both come with me, I want to show you something"

Daryl and I look at each other and get up and follow Aaron, in these heels Daryl and are almost the same height. We follow Aaron to his Garage door. He opens it. The garage is full of bike parts and a bike is covered by a sheet. Daryl and I look at each other before walking in.

"When I got the place, there was that frame and some parts and equipment. Whoever lived here built them." Aaron says

"It's a lot of parts for one bike." Daryl says picking up a headlight.

"Whenever I came across any parts out there, I brought them back." Aaron explains "I didn't know what I'd need. I always thought I'd learn how to do it, but I get the feeling you already know what to do with it. Both you and Gwen. And the thing is, Daryl, you're going to need a bike."

"Why?" Daryl asks

"I told Deanna not to give you a job because I think I have one for you. I'd like you to be Alexandria's other recruiter. I don't want Eric risking his life anymore." Aaron says and fear rushes through me

"You want me risking mine, right?" Daryl asks

"Yeah, because you know what you're doing." Aaron replies

I put my hands up "Woah, woah! Wait a bloody minute. Daryl's not risking his life out there! _I_ don't want him risking his life!"

Aaron looks at me with a smile "He's good out there." Aaron looks at Daryl "But you don't belong out there. I know it's hard getting used to people getting used to you. And I understand right now you need to be out there sometimes. So do I. But the main reason why I want you to help me recruit is because you do know the difference between a good person and a bad person."

Daryl shrugs "I got nothing else to do. Thanks. I'll get you some rabbits."

I scoff and shake my head "I gotta go" I say and head back towards the door.


	41. You Said Try, Right?

"Wait, Gwen, please" Aaron calls after me.

I storm through the house quickly not even saying goodbye to Eric and run outside and head down the street at a run. My heel snaps and I fall to the ground, my hands and knees get scratched up. I sigh defeated and fall back onto my backside and pull my shoes off. I pull my knees to my chest and sigh.

"Snow, you okay?" I look up at Spencer and smile.

I lift my broken shoe "My heel broke and I fell"

Spencer kneels down in front of me "They were nice shoes"

I smile briefly then look down "Aaron wants Daryl to be the second recruiter for Alexandria"

Spencer nods "It's good he has a job now"

"It's not good! I don't want him going out there anymore" I snap.

Spencer leans over and hugs me "He seems tough. He can handle it, right?"

"That's not the point" I reply

"Get off my wife" Daryl snaps.

Spencer lets go of me and turns to look at Daryl with a smile "I saw her fall over, I wasn't going to leave her"

Daryl glares at Spencer "I'm here now, you can go now"

Spencer looks at me and I nod "Sorry, Spence. Thank you"

"Anytime, Snow. I'll see you later" Spencer says and walks away.

I stand and grab my broken shoe and walk towards the house barefoot. "Gwen, wait" Daryl says.

"You should have said no!" I snap angrily

"Why?" Daryl asks

"Why does it have to be you?" I yell and let out a noise of pain when I stand on something sharp.

Daryl catches me before I hit the ground. He slides an arm under my legs and lifts me into his arms bridal style and walks the rest of the way back to the house and kicks open the door. He takes me into the kitchen and places me on the island before turning on the light. I drop my shoes to the ground.

"Let me see you're foot" He say sitting on the stool in front of me.

I lift my foot "Why does it have to be you?" I repeat, calmer this time "Why does it always have to be you?"

"I was a recruiter at the prison" He says

I frown "You went out with people we know and trust"

"You said try right? I'm tryin'" Daryl says as he grabs the kitchen roll from the island.

"Yeah, try and adapt not try and get yourself killed" I say angrily

Daryl dabs at my foot with the tissue, when he pulls it away there is blood on it "I won't die. Aaron seems look a good guy"

"I know he is but I don't know what he's like out there, I don't know if he can have your back. Good intentions mean fuck anymore." I say

Daryl is silent "What if I got pregnant? We're not exactly great at remembering to wear protection are we?" I say "What if I got pregnant and you die and I'm left with a kid that has to grow up without a dad"

Daryl gets up and walks to the sink. I watch him silently as he wets the tissue and comes back and pays attention to my foot again.

"I'm not goin' to die and leave you. I'll do what I gotta do if it comes down to me or Aaron" Daryl says and places a kiss on my foot.

I shake my head with a smile "Liar" I sigh and allow my head to fall back "Fine, do what you gotta do but…" I lean forward and pull the necklace out of his shirt and hold it in my hand "When you wear this and you're out there I want you to remember that you have a wife that is waiting for you at home, very anxiously might I add." I tell him with a smirk

Daryl nods "You _are_ the reason I fight so hard. You are the reason I'm still alive. You keep me going. I will come home to you"

I nod "Okay" I tuck the necklace back into his shirt "Would you mind if I helped you build that bike?"

Daryl grins "I would like that."

I grin back "Thanks, tell Aaron that I will kick his ass if he ever comes back without you"

Daryl nods "I'll tell 'im."

"How's my foot?" I ask

"You'll live." Daryl says

"It stings" I say and move to slide off the island.

Daryl stops me and lifts me into his arms again "I'll carry ya upstairs"

I wrap my arms around his neck tightly "Feels like we're newlyweds" I lay with a giggle as he carries me up the stairs.

He looks down at me "You're dress is white, you never got that when we got married"

Daryl kicks the bedroom door closed behind him and places me on the bed "I have never been into the big wedding thing, I wasn't planning on gettin' married at all until I met you" I say unbuttoning my dress. I can't reach the zip "Unzip me"

Daryl unzips the dress, purposefully slow, brushing his hand down my spine gently "I never thought I'd get married either." He kisses my neck as he pushes the dress off my body "I definitely didn' think I would marry a girl half my age"

I giggle "You callin' me a trophy wife? I didn't even know how old you were until tonight. I never would've guessed you were in your 40's. I genuinely thought you were in your 30's"

Daryl chuckles as his mouth travels to my jaw "You don' look your age."

I turn in his grip "How old do I look?" I ask

"Early 20's. It's your eyes that make you look older. They're intense" Daryl says as he stares into them.

I subconsciously blink "Thanks, I think"

Daryl smirks and tightens his grip around my waist. He lifts me and throws me onto the bed. "You're welcome" He mutters as he climbs on top of me.

Daryl wakes me up the next morning "We're meeting Carol and Rick at the house"

I sit up slowly and rub my eyes "Good morning to you too" I mutter and climb out the bed.

Daryl smirks at me "Mornin'"

"Too late" I mutter tiredly as I dress.

We collect our guns from Peach then head out to meet Carol and Rick, both of whom are already out there. At the meeting point Carol pulls out guns.

"Take your pick." She says

Daryl stares at them for a moment and says "Look, I've been thinking. Do we really need these? I mean, things go bad, yeah, sure. We do what we gotta do, but it's like you said. We don't need these for that."

I look up at my husband with a mix of surprise and relief. He's getting on board with this place. Hell, I am too. I kind of like the people here, well some of them. Deanna, Jessie, Spence. They are nice people.

"Right now we don't." Carol says, looking at Daryl in shock

"You wanted me to try, right? I'm good." Daryl says

Carol turns to me and I shrug "Nah, I'm good too. We'll cross that bridge if we ever get to it. Right now, we're fine"

Carol is looking a little frustrated now and even Rick hesitates but eventually takes the small six-shooter and sticks it in his trousers, covering it with his jacket. He looks at Daryl and I in wonder before walking off. We follow. Why can't this work? It could? Maybe I'm being naïve again, maybe I'm setting myself up for another fall. I won't know until I get to that point. Right now though, we're good.


	42. Betrayed

For a week, Daryl and I restore the bike in Aaron's garage. I don't think either of us have ever had so much fun with each other. Our own little project, it was fantastic. Until the day he left with Aaron. I watched him leave anxiously, I worked anxiously and I went to be bed anxiously but I slept in.

"Gwen! Let's go!" Maggie shouts up to me.

I run out my room, pulling my heeled black boot on as I go "I'm coming!"

I run down the stairs and collide violently into Andy who is coming out of the dining room. Maggie laughs uncontrollably as my nephew and I plummet to the ground. I pull myself to my feet.

"Watch it!" I say to the boy.

He stands and rubs his back and glares at me "You watch it! I just came back to get a notebook"

"For what?" I ask

"Deanna wants me to keep the electricity and water system running. I'm gonna write out a long term plan for it" Andy says and walks past me.

I smile after him. He's really invested in this place. "Come on, Gwen!" Maggie says and grabs my wrist.

Maggie ended up waking me, telling me I was late. Without Daryl, I'm falling back into myself again, late for everything.

There is a run today, we meet the run group and Deanna outside the garage where they keep the stuff they bring back from runs.

"Sorry, we're late! I slept in!" I say as we approach.

Deanna smiles "At least you slept"

I look at her surprised. Damn, she's right! Tara, Noah and Glenn are going out with Nicholas and Aiden. I'm not too sure about Nicholas and Aiden but Aiden is Spence's brother, how bad can he be?

Eugene is working with Andy, keeping the place running with power. Andy turns up, writing as he walks. "This is what you need" he says as rips the paper out of the notebook and hand it to Glenn.

Eugene is holding a black box, no idea what it is though. Noah is holding out a gun to him.

"Come on, you got to protect yourself." Noah says

"Not if I don't go." Eugene says

"We're not driving all that way so we can just drive back with the wrong shit." Aiden says

"It's a dozen of these. They are consistent in appearance across manufacturers. The shit will be right. Andrew and I will install said shit. Then the grid will be fully operational again." Eugene says

He stares at the gun Noah is pushing into his chest "Why can't Andrew go. He's better than me at this"

"Because I've asked Andy to do something for me" Deanna says

Eugene takes the gun grudgingly. I can see Andy roll his eyes out the corner of mine. He's never warmed to Eugene and I have a feeling Andy knew Eugene was lying about the cure.

Everyone says their goodbyes before the group climbs into the van.

"Power grid was a prototype. I'm surprised it took this long to start acting up." Reg says

"Don't worry Mr Monroe, Andy will get it going. He's very good with technology" I say with a smile

The van starts and all I hear is techno music coming from it. I cringe "Damn, I thought a silver lining to this whole thing was that music no longer existed"

Maggie laughs "It still existed, you just never had to hear it until now"

I shake my head "Isn't that always the way. Everything goes good and now I'm gonna be walking around with that beat in my head for a week"

"Well come on, you two. Let's go do some work" Deanna says to Maggie and I.

We sit at her table going over some plans for a while. Some guy comes in and asks to speak to Deanna. Maggie and I sit in the corner as the guy tells us about Abraham saving a girl in the construction site today when a herd of walkers attacked. He wants to resign as head of construction and give it to Abraham

"Sorry to lose you, Tobin. You sure?" Deanna asks him

"Absolutely. If Abraham had followed my orders, she'd be dead." Tobin replies

"Well, saving someone's life makes them a hero, but it doesn't qualify them to run a construction crew." Reg says

"Well, they're still out there, still working, the whole team. And he's leading them. Better than I ever could." Tobin replies

"I guess it's settled, then." Deanna says as she stands "I'll speak to Abraham when he's back and make it official."

Tobin stands "Yeah. Thank you, Deanna. And the thing is, I know you won't regret it."

Both he and Reg leave the house, leaving Deanna, Maggie and I alone. Funny thing is, the silence is a little tenser than usual and Deanna looks apprehensive.

"He's right, you know? Abraham's more than qualified." Maggie says

"I put another one of your people in a position of power, you two vouch for them. It's becoming a pattern." Deanna says with a chuckle

"We know what we're doing. It's why you wanted us here." Maggie says

"It's why Aaron and Daryl are out there looking for more people. You wanted a future. You need us for that." I continue. No way in hell is my man going out there and risking his life just so Deanna can decide to suddenly not trust our judgement

"That's right." Deanna says

"Gwen and I'll get back to work on those field plans." Maggie says and stands. I stand with her

"I'll be down in a minute." Deanna says

"Okay." Maggie replies

Maggie and I go back into the basement and I watch the stairs carefully for a moment as Maggie concentrates on the plan in front of her.

"You think she's losing trust in us?" I ask

"Deanna? No, I don't think so" Maggie replies.

I frown "She's was rather apprehensive, didn't you see it?"

Maggie shrugs "Wouldn't you be?"

I nod "I suppose."

I hear a knock at the door. "Who is that?" I ask

"You're being paranoid" Maggie says with a smile

"Grab that plan and follow me" I say and head for the stairs.

"Why do I need to take the plan up?" Maggie asks.

"As an excuse to be going up stairs" I tell her and start up the steps slowly.

"Satan" I hear Gabriel say "he disguises himself as the angel of light. I'm afraid that false light is here inside these walls. Your community, you say it's not a paradise, but it is. I'm grateful to be here. I am. But you made a mistake letting in the others."

My jaw drops open, we saved your life you ungrateful piece of shit!

"How so?" Deanna asks

"Rick... his group... they're not good people. They've done things. They've done unspeakable things." Gabriel says

Maggie and I look at each other utterly disgusted. This is why he wanted to separate himself from us.

"To make it out there as long as they did, they must have done things. Rick said as much. They survived. That's what makes them assets." Deanna says

"You're wrong." Gabriel says "They can't be trusted. They're dangerous. You may believe that they did what they had to do, that they were afraid and so they… The day will come when they'll put their own lives before yours and everyone else's and they will destroy everything you have here, everything you're working so hard to build."

"Why are you just now coming to me with this?" Deanna asks him

"Satan, he disguises himself as the angel of light. His servants are the false apostles of righteousness. They don't deserve this. They don't deserve paradise." Gabriel says desperately. I'm going to fucking kill him!

"Thank you, Gabriel. I have a lot to think about." Deanna says. I frown at this

"I, I only wish I'd come to you sooner. That I just, I hope it isn't too late." Gabriel says.

The door closes, signifying him leaving. Maggie and I stare at each other completely shocked. Maggie looks upset, I'm sure my face is a picture of pure anger.

"Help! I need help!" I hear coming from outside.

"Glenn?" I ask Maggie.

She nods, her eyes full of fear and she runs up the rest of the stairs.


	43. Broken Trust

Aiden is dead, Tara is unconscious and bleeding badly from a cut on her head. Nicholas is also unconscious…. Noah is dead too. Deanna sends everyone home. Her son has just died.

We go back. Our whole group, minus Daryl and obviously Noah, sit in the living room of our house and just stare at each other, in the dark. Coming here was to prevent anything happening to anymore of our group.

Glenn heads outside, Rick and I follow. Glenn sits on the porch and stares blankly into the street.

"I saw the grenades. I tried to stop him." Glenn says suddenly "He was gonna run. But we made him stay. Couldn't get Aiden out of there without help. Then when we got into the lobby, all he had to do was hold the door. But he panicked. Noah, I had him, I had his hand. I tried, I watched him die. I almost left him out there. Could have told a story."

I see the look Rick gives him "What, you think I should have?"

"They don't know what they're doing. Any of them." Rick says

"We'll show them." Glenn says

"I don't know if they can see it. How things really are. I don't know if they can yet. They haven't caught up." Rick replies

"We have to be here. We have to." Glenn says

"Yeah, we do. But their rules, we don't answer to them." Rick says

"We are them, Rick. We are now." Glenn says desperately "Noah, he believed in this place. I'm telling you, we gotta make this work."

"I don't think Deanna trusts us anymore" I say as quietly as possible.

"She's grieving" Glenn says

I nod "Yes, and people do stupid things when they are grieving"

I walk away from the both of them and back into the house. The first person I see is Nessa "You okay?" she asks

I walk into the kitchen and make a coffee "Yeah, you?"

"Why are you drinking coffee at this time?" She asks

"I'm not sleeping tonight. These people don't trust us anymore. We need to be prepared" I tell her.

"Prepared for what exactly?" She asks

"To take over" I reply and head upstairs with my cup.

She follows me "Are you serious?"

I close my door behind her "Deadly. Gabriel poisoned Deanna's mind, then two minutes later in comes Glenn telling her, her son is dead, so is Noah, Tara is injured and Nicholas is a little snake"

Nessa nods "When?"

I shrug "I don't know. We'll try to work things out but when things go south, be ready"

The next morning I go downstairs and come face to face with Rick "You okay?" I ask

"Pete is beating Jessie" Rick says.

I look at him shocked "What?"

"Pete, he's beating Jessie" Rick repeats.

I feel angry, what is wrong with these people! "We have to do something." I say quickly

"I'm going to talk to Deanna" Rick replies

I frown "Is that a good idea? She's already mistrustful of us now."

"You know that?" Rick asks

"I can see it in her eyes, ever since Gabriel said those things to us and her son died. She is weary of us now, she is watching us very closely. If you do talk to her. Choose your words wisely." I tell him firmly.

Rick nods and leaves. Neither Maggie or I go to Deanna's today. We decide it's best to leave her be for a while. Instead, I go visit Tara. When I walk into the 'surgery' I notice no one is there looking after her. I'm pissed. After making sure she's medicated and re-bandaged, comfortable, I go out in search of Pete, he doesn't get to abandon his patients! The wife beating scum-bag!

I hear glass breaking and I break into a run. What the hell was that? I see two people brawling in the middle of the street. Rick and Pete! I approach as Jessie tries to pull Pete off of Rick and gets back handed. I drop down beside her and pull her to her feet. She clings to me desperately.

"Rick! Stop! Stop it now!" I shout at him.

Carl tries to pull Rick off but Rick pushes him away.

"Carl! Come here" I say and pull him behind me and Jessie.

"Stop it! Stop it right now." Deanna shouts

"You touch them again and I'll kill you." I hear Rick whisper angrily to Pete

"Damn it, Rick! I said stop." Deanna snaps

Rick pushes Pete away and pulls out his gun "Or what? You gonna kick me out?"

"Rick!" I snap

"Put that gun down, Rick." Deanna says

"You still don't get it. None of you do!" Rick yells "We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you, you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here."

"That's never been more clear to me than it is right now." Deanna says and I look at her. I wish I could say I was shocked but I saw this coming.

"Me? Me? You…" Rick laughs "You mean, you mean me? Your way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed. And I'm not gonna stand by and just let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not gonna stand by…"

Michonne knocks Rick out. I gasp and move forward. "Jesus Christ!" I mutter

"Take him to the cells please" Deanna says. "And Pete to another house"

Michonne nods and a group of people move Rick to the cells and Pete somewhere else. "I'll patch Rick up" I say walking passed Deanna.

"And Pete" she says

"I don't care for people who beat their wife and kids. No one should. Rick isn't a bad person!" I snap at Deanna "None of us are! We just want to make sure our family is safe. That all of you are safe. You want this to be a community? A civilisation? What kind of civilised society overlooks children being hurt? That overlooks people hitting their spouses? I think you need to take a long hard look at the dynamic you have here"

I walk away before she can reply.


	44. Frustrations

I patch Rick up and Rosita volunteers to do the same for Pete. I wait with Rick for hours for him to wake up. Michonne comes in and tells me to go rest. I agree.

Halfway down the street Deanna shouts my name. I turn grudgingly.

She powers up to me quickly "You were right" She says

I raise an eyebrow "About?"

"I shouldn't have let Pete do what he was doing" She says. I stare at her. "I know Rick is not a bad person. But after what he did, we can't let it go. This will be put to democracy. The people will decide"

"Like a court?" I ask

She nods "Yes"

"Does Pete get one too?" I ask

She nods "Yes, he will"

I nod "Okay" I turn and walk away

Maggie comes walking up to me from the house "Gwen, come to Deanna's we need to talk to her about the meeting tonight"

"She just walked away from me" I tell her.

"Please, Gwen." She says

I nod and as we walk I tell her to take lead as we talk to Deanna. I will back her up. At the house we wait for Reg.

"Maggie, Gwen, Deanna's on the porch" Reg says

The two of us head out "What do you need to talk about, Ladies?" Deanna asks

"The meeting tonight." Maggie says

"Maggie, if we could talk…" Deanna starts "I want to talk to everyone about what happened and what we need to do about it."

"If it includes sending Rick away, it's not gonna work." Maggie says

"Tell me what that means." Deanna says

"You let Rick in. You let all of us in. You talked to us. You decided. And now you want to put that decision on a group of very frightened people who might not have the whole story. That's not leadership." Maggie says

"Tonight is just a forum. It's just for people to say their piece." Reg says

"And I'll make the decision as I've done since the beginning." Deanna says

"He was frustrated. The things he's seen. The things he's lost. The things we have all lost." Maggie says

"The things you've lost?" Deanna says with a raised eyebrow

"We've lost so much more." Maggie says

"Rick took a gun and he pointed it at people." Deanna snaps

"He didn't pull the trigger." I say to her

"That's a metric? That he didn't pull the trigger?" Deanna asks

"Yes." I reply

"Michonne stopped him, Deanna. Michonne did." Reg says

"I'm gonna do what I have to do, Maggie." Deanna says and Maggie runs off.

"Maggie!" I call and follow her

"Maggie! Gwen!" Reg calls after us.

I run into Maggie as she stops at the bottom of the stairs "Look, the cavemen, they were all nomads. And they all died. Then we evolved into this and we lived. Civilization starts when we stop running. When we live together. When we stop sending people away from the world and from each other. That's what I'm going to tell her. That's what I'm going to tell everyone. Okay?" Reg says

Maggie smiles a little and nods.

"Thanks, Reg" I say and follow after the girl.

Maggie and I head back to the house. She talks to Glenn while I go inside. I could really do with a drink. I lean against the kitchen counter and breathe deeply. I need to keep my cool. I need to relax. I need Daryl.

 **Daryl's P.O.V**

Stuck in the car, I can't help but think about how normal this feel. I can't contain my laugh.

"What?" Aaron asks

"I came out here to not feel all closed up back there. Even now, this still feels more like me than back in them houses. That's pretty messed up, huh?" I say with a smirk

"You were trying." Aaron says

"I had to. For Gwen, I had to" I reply

"No, you didn't. Listen, I saw you with your group out there on the road. Then you went off on your own by the barn. Gwen appeared. I didn't know you two were even a couple until I say you there. That love you two share. It was real, I could see that. The storm hit and you led your people to safety. That was it. I knew I had to bring you people back." Aaron says

"You saw me and Gwen outside the barn?" I ask with a smirk

Aaron nods.

"Enjoy the show?" I ask

Aaron looks embarrassed "I… uh"

I laugh "Gwen said she heard something. I swear that girl has some serious sensitive senses"

"You were right. We should have kept looking for that guy in the poncho. I shouldn't have given up. You didn't." Aaron says

I can hear Gwen screaming at me in my head as I pull out a smoke from my pocket "I'll go. I'll lead them out. You make a break for the fence."

"No, no, no. This was my fault." Aaron says

"It wasn't a question. And this ain't your decision. It ain't nobody's fault. Just let me finish my smoke first." I tell him

"No. You don't draw them away. We fight. We go for the fence. We do it together. All right? Whether we make it or not, we do it together. We have to." Aaron says "Besides, if I go back to Alexandria without you, Gwen will kill me anyway"

I smirk, she would. "All right. You ready? We'll go on three."


	45. Who's in Charge Here?

**Gwen's P.O.V**

I need to do something. Anything… but what?

Nessa walks in "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. That's the problem"

"You worried about Rick?" She asks

I nod "And Daryl. He chose one hell of a time to leave"

"He'll be back" Nessa says

I frown "I know that. I just want him here, now!"

"Not good enough for you anymore, little sister?" Nessa asks with a smirk and pulls herself up on the counter.

"He's my husband." I say

"Yeah and I'm your big sister. You need to talk to me, Snow. I barely know a damn thing about you anymore. You never told me about the guys that attacked you. Why the nickname you've had your entire life now makes you shiver with disgust" Nessa says calmly.

I shake my head "I don't want to talk about it. You do know me. I'm still me but I'm a little more anxious and paranoid and stronger."

"Thanks to Daryl" Nessa says bitterly.

"What is up with you and Daryl? You've never liked the idea of us being together" I say with a frown

Nessa sighs "That's not it. I was worried about you at first 'cause of Keith and then I got jealous. He had you're attention. I lost it. Childish I know but keeping a hold of you and the boy is all I have left"

I look at her and smile "You never lost me. I was always there. All you had to do was ask."

She nods "I know"

"Gwen?" I turn to look at Michonne "You seen Rick?"

I nod "He's upstairs, you okay?"

She nods "Yeah" She heads for the stairs but stops and looks at me "Whatever you and Rick decide to do. I'm with you. One hundred percent"

I smile and nod "Thanks Michonne"

Michonne comes down ten minutes later "Want to head up to the meeting together?"

I nod "Yeah, where's Rick?"

"He's coming" She says

I nod and Nessa and I follow her to Deanna's garden. Night falls and we're still waiting on Rick. Andy turns to me and whispers "Should I go look for him?"

I shake my head "No, he'll be here"

"We're going to start." Deanna says

"Can we wait?" Maggie asks "There's still people coming. Glenn, Rick."

"We're going to start." Deanna repeats "It's already dark. We're going to talk about what happened. Not the fight. Not what precipitated it. We're dealing with that. We're going to talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people. And we're going to talk about what he said. I was hoping he'd be here."

"She said he's coming." Michonne says

"I'm sure he'll be here. And I'm sure we can work this all out." Carol says with a smile

"I'll start" I say "I said it before, I'll say it again, Rick is not a bad person. He's a great person who just wants everyone to live, to survive together. He just wants everyone to understand that being in here is easy compared to out there. No warm beds or showers. No walls, no homes. Sometimes we would go days without food and water was scarce. We didn't live, we survived"

Michonne takes over "And after being out there and then not being how you were out there... it can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is is who you're gonna be... if you're lucky."

Carol stands "Rick Grimes saved my life over and over. There's terrifying people out there. And he rescued me from them. People like me, people like us need people like him. I know what happened last night was scary. And I'm sure he's sorry for that. But maybe we should listen to what he was saying."

"Simply put, there is a vast ocean of shit you people don't know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit... and then some." Abraham says

"My father respected Rick Grimes. Rick is a father, too. He's a man with a good heart who feels the things he does, the things he has to do. And all of us who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now. Rick started that and Gwen. And you won't stop it. You can't. And you don't want to. This community, you people... that family... you want to be a part of it, too." Maggie says

"Before we hear from anyone else, I… I would like to share something in the spirit of transparency. Father Gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday" Maggie and I look at each other briefly "and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted, that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before this community. And not one day later, Rick seemed to demonstrate all the things Father Gabriel said. I had hoped Gabriel would be here tonight."

"I don't see him here, Deanna. So you're just saying what someone said. Did you tape him?" Jessie asks

"He's not here." Maggie says

"Neither is Rick." Deanna replies

"Excuse me" Maggie says and walks away.

Tobin stands "I just want to keep my family safe. You know? And I don't even know what that means anymore, but if it means that we've got to get rid of" he stops and looks up

I look over at the entrance to the garden and see Rick covered in blood with a body over his shoulder. This isn't good. He drops the body next to the fire pit. It's a walker.

"There wasn't a guard on the gate. It was open." Rick says

I look over at Deanna who is glaring at Spence "I asked Gabriel to close it." Spence says

"Go!" Deanna snaps

"I didn't bring it in. It got inside on its own." Rick says "They always will. The dead and the living, because we're in here. And the ones out there, they'll hunt us. They'll find us. They'll try to use us. They'll try to kill us. But we'll kill them. We'll survive. I'll show you how. You know, I was thinking- I was thinking how many of you do I have to kill to save your lives? But I'm not gonna do that. You're gonna change. I'm not sorry for what I said last night. I'm sorry for not saying it sooner. You're not ready, but you have to be. Right now, you have to be. Luck runs out."

I see a figure at the entrance to the garden and move over to Jessie quickly "You're not one of us. You're not one of us!" Pete yells pointing a machete at Rick

Reg moves over to him "Pete, you don't want to do this."

"Get the hell away from me, Reg." Pete snaps

"Pete, just stop." Reg tries to reason

"Get away from me!" Pete yells and slices Reg's throat with the machete. Deanna screams.

I move quickly. I dive forward and kick the machete away as Abraham tackles Pete. I look over at Deanna who is crying as Reg bleeds out. There is nothing I can do.

Reg dies. Deanna looks up at Rick and says through her tears "Rick, do it"

Rick turns and shoots Pete in the head without a second thought. "Rick?" A voice says from the entrance to the garden.

I look up and see Aaron and Daryl with some guy.

"Morgan" Rick says

Okay, time to take charge "Right, everyone calm down please. Abraham, Andy go get some sheets. Jessie, go inside with Deanna, Carol go with them. Ness, go get Spence and take over the watch on the gate. Rick, go sit down. Everyone else, go home. Now" I say firmly.

Everyone does as I say. I watch Deanna with sad eyes as she is lead into the house by Jessie and Carol. I turn to the three shocked people standing at the entrance. Daryl moves first.

"What happened?" He asks

"A lot!" I snap.

I take a deep breath and explain to him what happened over the last few days. He looks between the bodies of Reg and Pete "Jesus"

I nod "Yeah."

Andy and Abraham come back and cover the bodies. "Now what?" Abraham asks

"Take them to the graveyard" I reply "Reg first" The man needs some respect.

"Want me to start digging?" Abraham asks

I nod "If you could, just one though"

Abraham nods and does what I ask. Rick stands "I'll help"

I gesture with my hand "No, you'll sit"

I turn to Daryl and hug him "You're okay"

He nods "Thanks to Morgan"

I look at the new guy "Sorry, I'm Guinevere"

"Morgan" He replies

"Nice to meet you finally, Morgan. I wish it was under happier circumstances" I say

He nods "Who's in charge here?"

"Guinevere is" Rick replies


End file.
